Impact venture capital firm Ananda announced that it has raised €73 million at the first close of its fifth core impact fund, significantly surpassing the firm’s initial €50 million.

Founded in 2009, Munich-based Ananda invests in early-stage tech-driven startups across Europe that provide solutions to address societal and environmental problems.

According to Ananda, the firm’s largest first close to date comes as “many investors are retreating from impact,” with the company instead “doubling down on European founders building companies indispensable for the future of people and planet.”

Ananda Co-Founder Johannes Weber said:

“We have seen venture capital follow the geopolitical zeitgeist into isolationism, division, and defence – simply by staying true to our core values, we become differentiated in the market. We become outliers. This is Impact Investing 3.0 – the era when impact ceases to be a word of convenience, and starts to be a word of conviction.”

The firm says that it follows a problem-focused approach in its investment process, diving deep into pressing and overlooked challenges, and then identifying entrepreneurs addressing those problems. Portfolio companies include biodiversity monitoring and assessment solutions provider NatureMetrics, satellite-based wildfire detection company OroraTech, and regenerative agriculture platform Klim.

Ananda targets companies at the pre-seed, seed and Series A stage. Investments typically range from €0.5 million to €3 million, with the firm investing up to €8 million over the lifetime of the company. The firm has €270 million in assets under management across its five funds.

Ananda Co-Founder Florian Erber said:

“To change systems, you need a team that thinks in systems. We have built Ananda around biologists, engineers, chemists and entrepreneurs – people who think in molecules, ecosystems and lines of code. We are full of builders, and that is how you go truly deep. That is why we can tell founders to skip the problem slide.”

Mark founded ESG Today following a 20 year career in investment management and research. Prior to founding ESG Today, Mark worked at Delaney Capital Management (DCM) in Toronto, Canada, most recently as the firm’s head of U.S. equities. While at DCM, Mark was part of the firm’s ESG team, responsible for evaluating and tracking the sustainability factors impacting portfolio companies, and assessing the suitability of companies for portfolio inclusion. Mark also spent several years in the sell-side research industry, covering the technology and services sectors. Mark holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York, a BBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, and is a CFA charterholder.