Impact
Backing start-ups where impact is the business
Impact isn't a metric. It's our mandate. We invest to transform, backing founders whose scalable solutions scale and shift entire industries toward a greener future.
What we mean by impact investing
Impact-led by design
We invest only where impact is embedded in the business model - intentional, measurable, and led from the top. Impact must shape mission, strategy, and revenue from day one.
Meaningful change only
Every investment must clear a high contribution bar. We avoid marginal improvements and back solutions capable of delivering real, measurable, system-level environmental change at scale.
Net-positive at system level
We assess solutions holistically to ensure they move the world forward without shifting harm elsewhere. Trade-offs are scrutinized to deliver net-positive outcomes across systems.
Accelerating transformation
We invest where our capital, expertise, and network accelerate impact that would not happen otherwise - helping transformative ventures scale faster and reshape industries decisively.
Impact Report 2024
Our latest 2024 Impact Report provides insights into progress, outcomes, and learnings across our portfolio.
Our 2024 impact report
Take a look to see how we work with impact, our portfolio companies' current performance and their impact potential.
Impact stats
Avoided tonne CO2e projected in 2035
3.24mShare of portfolio with a lifecycle assessment
73%Taxonomy alignment (share of revenue)
100%Taxonomy alignment (share of CAPEX)
99.6%
Our portfolio
Deep dive into how our portfolio companies create impact.
- REEL about ?overlay=reel-energy
REEL
B2B electricity supplier, trader, and balancing-responsible party
- Nordic Salt Cycle about ?overlay=nordic-salt-cycle
Nordic Salt Cycle
Accelerating the transition to a mineral economy
- Circular economyabout /verticals/circular-economyCircular economy
- Octarine bioabout ?overlay=octarine-bio
Octarine bio
Bio-based dye palette that replaces conventional synthetic dyes
- Biosolutionsabout /verticals/biosolutionsBiosolutions
- Greenshiftabout ?overlay=greenshift
Greenshift
Cutting cloud computing costs and emissions by up to 40%
- Climate techabout /verticals/climate-techClimate tech
- NobodyWhoabout ?overlay=nobodywho
NobodyWho
Small Language Models: Europe’s Next AI Advantage
- Climate techabout /verticals/climate-techClimate tech
- Cellugy about ?overlay=cellugy
Cellugy
Biofabricating high-performance cellulose to replace petrochemicals
- Biosolutionsabout /verticals/biosolutionsBiosolutions
- A:gain about ?overlay=a-gain
A:gain
Circular building products at scale
- Built environmentabout /verticals/built-environmentBuilt environment
- SemperCycle about ?overlay=sempercycle
SemperCycle
Enabling a circular, low-carbon economy for unrecyclable plastics
- Circular economyabout /verticals/circular-economyCircular economy
- Rock Flour Company about ?overlay=rock-flour-company
Rock Flour Company
Nature’s solution to net-negative agriculture
- Food & agricultureabout /verticals/food-and-agricultureFood & agriculture
- FoodOpabout ?overlay=foodop
FoodOp
Digital platform helping kitchens reduce food waste
- Food & agricultureabout /verticals/food-and-agricultureFood & agriculture
- Agrain about ?overlay=agrain
Agrain
Providing ingredients for the future of food
- Food & agricultureabout /verticals/food-and-agricultureFood & agriculture
- Søuldabout ?overlay=sould
Søuld
Acoustic products made from eelgrass
- Built environmentabout /verticals/built-environmentBuilt environment
- PerPlantabout ?overlay=perplant
PerPlant
Democratising AI in agriculture by supporting sustainable farming
- Food & agricultureabout /verticals/food-and-agricultureFood & agriculture
- Catalysta about ?overlay=catalysta
Catalysta
Automate GHG reporting with complete coverage
- Climate techabout /verticals/climate-techClimate tech
We're on a missoin to decarbonize industries and scale impact solutions. Explore our investment verticals
- Circular economy
- Built environment
- Biosolutions
- Climate tech
- Energy
- Food & agriculture
We're on a missoin to decarbonize industries and scale impact solutions. Explore our investment verticals
Our current linear ‘take-make-waste’ system use 60% more resources than the earth can generate every year. We invest in solutions that enable reuse, upcycling and recycling of waste streams to enable a circular economy.
- Circular economyabout /verticals/circular-economyCircular economy
KPIs & policies
Our fund impact KPIs define how we measure impact. Rooted in science, they help us assess impact in a rigorous and transparent way. Portfolio companies must contribute significantly to at least one defined impact KPI, embedding measurable positive impact at the core of their business model.
Our Responsible Investment Policy sets out how we integrate environmental, social, and governance considerations across the full investment lifecycle. It guides decision-making, risk management, and active ownership.
Our Good Governance policy sets out which policies, processes and procedures we help our portfolio companies get into place depending on their size and maturity.
Our 'Do No Significant Harm' criteria and thresholds sets out what we consider to be signifcant harm. We use these criteria and thresholds to ensure our portfolio companies do not cause significant harm on social and environmental objectives.
SFDR
As an Article 9 impact fund, sustainability is at the core of our investment approach. We provide transparent, sustainability-related disclosures in line with SFDR requirements, ensuring accountability, regulatory alignment, and clarity on how our investments contribute to positive environmental outcomes.
PAI statements
We consider Principal Adverse Impacts (“PAI”). Take a look at our PAI statements here.
Sustainability-related disclosures
We're an Article 9 "dark green" fund. Curious what this means? Take a look at our sustainability-related disclosures.
Come venture with us
Pitch us
Have a venture where impact and growth scale together? We invest early and work side-by-side powered by the whole Footprint Firm team.
Jakob brings extensive expertise as an investor, entrepreneur, CEO, and management consultant, combined with significant international experience. He has served as a responsible partner on more than 200+ projects. He has served clients in international organizations and the private and public sectors on a wide range of issues, albeit always at the intersection between sustainability, research, and strategy. Jakob also serves as a trusted advisor to several senior executives, especially in private equity. He has been heavily engaged in the Footprint Firm investment practice, playing a core role in establishing the Footprint Fund and serving as board chair in several start-ups (Agrain, Klimate, Legacy) as well as leading several investment processes.
He especially thrives in diverse cultural and professional environments, as he has worked as an advisor and investor across the world and across multiple industries, with governments, academia, civil society and international organizations.
In 2011, he founded his own boutique consultancy as a response to the democratic movements in the Middle East and Africa that erupted in step with the Arab Spring revolutions. The company was later merged into Voluntas where Jakob has served as CEO and co-owner, as well as working with the advisory and investment sub-brands contributing to building the organization, growing the business as well as initiating new start-ups and establishing new offices. In 2008, Jakob co-founded the purpose-driven and renewable-only utility Natur-Energi, a company that was sold in 2017 after having built a significant client base.
Jakob holds a Master of Public Theory from University of Essex and a Master of Science in Political Science from the University of Aarhus. His former positions include CEO and Co-founder of Voluntas Group, including Voluntas Advisory and Voluntas Investment, Co-founder of Natur-Energi and other work with the World Bank, DanChurchAid and Epinion.