Author - Yannick Oswald
We celebrated our firm's 20th anniversary back in March this year. Now, we are celebrating the Mangrove foundation's 10th anniversary. Driving top tier returns in venture over 20 years is hard. Building on top an organization that is driving change beyond tech is even more challenging. I am proud to be part of an organization that achieved both.
It has been 10 years already since we decided that it is time to give back and establish Mangrove as a corporate giver. Back then, the mission was and still is, to act for the planet’s survival by selecting and supporting worthy causes we feel strong about. Our aim is to leverage our collective strength to drive human impact. Since then, much has happened:
Since day 1, we have applied to impact investing the same approach, which made our firm successful in venture investing. Whatever we do needs to apply best practices and drive real returns. Our former venture team member Hugo is at the helm of our foundation and does a fantastic job. He co-manages 10 different projects worldwide, of which 4 have already been completed successfully. To do so, we measure our impact periodically and produce semi-annual reports together with our partner NGOs. We also assess our action against the UN Sustainable Development Goals. More on this here.
Want to learn more? Ask me anything on Qoorio Last week I was in Paris to spend some valuable in-person time with some of our entrepreneurs. I also had the chance to meet many new ambitious founders. I am just blown away by how they are navigating the current economic and social environment to find unique new opportunities everywhere. The good weather is definitely still on, and hopefully here to stay some more days. Life is awesome, Yannick
About the Author
My name is Yannick and I am an early stage VC @ Mangrove Capital Partners and a Kauffman fellow, Class 23.
I travel all around Europe to work with exceptional entrepreneurs and discover their unique insights. I am convinced that talent is everywhere but that you have to go out there to find it.
I am obsessed with helping entrepreneurs build their insights on upcoming trends and markets into epic products - products that create the 'wow' effect and have an immediate and material impact on consumers’ lives. This is the foundation I focus on to implement scalable and sustainable business models