We believe that startups leveraging scalable technology are the key to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems.
That’s why we’ve created the Impact100 - an annual list of the world’s most promising impact startups.
You could say a lot about them, but it's basically this: 100 ideas that can change 1 000 000 000 lives. The companies on the list have all been nominated by Norrsken or our nomination committee.
Many of them will fail, that’s just the nature of things.
But what if they succeed?
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The Impact100 is an annual list of the world’s most promising impact startups, compiled by Norrsken and our nomination partners.
It exists to highlight the power of entrepreneurship to drive positive change, and to celebrate the individuals brave enough to try and change the world for the better.
In other words: It’s 100 ideas with the potential to change 1 billion lives. Pretty cool, right?
The Impact100 is created by the Norrsken Foundation. It is compiled from nominations made by our partners. This year, we collaborated with Acumen, The Obama Foundation, Katapult, Unreasonable, Softbank, Leaps by Bayer, Footprint Coalition, Summa Equity, World Fund, SEIF, Trellis Road, Early Bird Venture Capital, BMW Foundation and others.
Glad you asked! Norrsken is a non-profit, non-partisan and non-political foundation, with a strong belief in effective altruism. It was founded in 2016 by Niklas Adalberth, co-founder of payment services unicorn Klarna.
Our mission is to help entrepreneurs solve the world’s greatest challenges. To do that, we’re hard at work building an ecosystem where founders can find the capital, knowledge and network they need to make saving the world their business.
We run Norrsken House in Stockholm, Sweden, Europe’s largest hub for tech and impact startups, and Norrsken House in Kigali, Rwanda, the largest startup hub in Africa. We incubated Norrsken VC - a $130 million impact VC fund investing in the best entrepreneurs that solve global challenges using technology, and Norrsken22, a $200 million growth fund backing exceptional entrepreneurs building Africa’s new tech unicorns. We also manage the Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Europe's leading Accelerator program for early stage impact startups.
An impact startup is a fast-growing company where positive impact forms an intrinsic and non-negotiable part of the business model. We are particularly interested in companies that leverage scalable technology to solve global problems.
We define impact as driving meaningful and measurable progress towards one or several of the UN global development goals.
If you want to learn more about how we define and measure impact, check out Norrsken VC:s annual Impact Report at norrsken.org/about.
The Impact 100 consists of:
*Impact companies, meaning companies where positive global impact is an intrinsic and non-negotiable part of the business model.
*High-risk, high-potential ventures that aim to leverage scalable technology to do business and drive positive impact.
*Businesses with a scalable business model and a proven ability to combine growth with positive global impact.
*Companies that have delivered at least an MVP product to market and/or raised at least seed/series A-funding.
*Impact is defined as driving measurable, positive progress against the 17 sustainable development goals.
*The Impact 100 winners are the companies that the jury believe have the most potential to grow into impact unicorns - companies whose work will positively impact the lives of 1 billion people.
The list itself is without ranking, but there are awards in different categories. This year, the categories are Shining Star - for companies valued at above 1bUSD - and Rising Star - for companies valued at below 1bUSD. The winner will be revealed at an awards ceremony held as part of Stockholm Impact Week.
The winners are chosen by the Impact100 jury. The members of the 2022 jury are: Niklas Adalberth, founder of Norrsken Foundation, Matt Miller, partner at Sequoia Capital, Ulrika Modéer, UN assistant secretary general, Amit Bouri, CEO of Global Impact Investing Network, Carl Manneh, co-founder of Mojang, Srishti Gupta, ex-director at McKinsey, Nonkululeko Nyembezi, chairwoman at Standard Bank and Jacqueline Novogratz, founder of Acumen.
It’s hard to say! It might be that our team looked at the company and decided it wasn’t right for the list. Or - it might not have been nominated at all. We’ve done our best to source as many relevant nominations as possible, to cover a wide spectrum of companies, problems and solutions. But there will of course be cases we’ve missed, and calls made where you’ll disagree with us.
If you’re a startup founder - don’t hesitate to let us know if you think you deserve a spot on the list. Or - if the Norrsken ecosystem can support you in any other way: info@norrskenfoundation.org.
Our team evaluated more than 500 nominations this year.
Glad you like it! We’re always looking for more partners to help us source relevant nominations and give the Impact100 companies the attention they deserve. Get in touch and we’ll make something cool happen. info@norrskenfoundation.org.