Public voting Impact Shakers Awards has opened
Founders of impact startups are more diverse than other startups
- 48 European sustainable, inclusive impact startups were selected for The Impact Shakers Awards
- 48% of the applicants have at least one founder that identifies as a woman; 30% have a migration background
- 66% of the applicants have received some type of funding, predominantly through grants or business angels.
- All 12 winners will be invited to participate in an intensive bootcamp to raise alternative funding.
Antwerp, 25 May 2021 - The public voting opens today for the The Impact Shakers Awards. People all over Europe can vote for the innovative startup or scale-up with a solid business model that will make the biggest impact on the planet and society. Winners will be announced on June 21st and receive access to unique networking opportunities, prizes to accelerate business growth, and be invited to participate in an intensive bootcamp to secure alternative funding.
Impact Shakers, the organiser behind The Impact Shakers Awards, wants to create a growth environment in which impact driven startups can grow into strong and scalable businesses and bridge the gap between impact and profit.
Yonca Braeckman, CEO Impact Shakers: “Impact driven startups are still taken less seriously as a business. We want to show that there are exceptionally promising and successful sustainable startups already performing well and making a difference in the European market.”
What we know about the Impact Shakers Awards applications:
- Startups and scaleups applied from 24 countries.
- 48 startups were selected as finalists.
- Over half of the candidates came from the UK (30,3%), Germany (12%) and the Netherlands (11,5%).
- Nearly 1 out of 2 (48%) applicants have at least one founder that identifies as a woman
- 30% have a migration background.
- 66% of the applicants have received some type of funding, predominantly through grants or business angels.
“It’s really great to be able to prove with data what we’ve been sensing for a while: founders of impact startups are more diverse. Over 80% of the applicants had at least one ‘under-represented founder’ on their team. Another remarkable trend: many already found interested business angels—even with an impact driven business model,” says Yonca Braeckman, CEO Impact Shakers.
Doughnut economics model
The Impact Shakers Awards takes its inspiration from the doughnut economics model, which maps human prosperity according to a social foundation and ecological ceiling. The public will pick winners in twelve categories: Energy, Water, Food, Health, Education, Income & Work, Peace & Justice, Political Voice, Social Equity, Gender Equality, Housing & Networks.
Yonca Braeckman, CEO Impact Shakers:“It’s the first time we used the doughnut economics model to work with impact startups and we can say it’s an excellent and educational first edition. We’ll continue to research how we can implement insight, collect more data, and measure impact. At this point, we found significantly more impact startups in the categories energy, health, income & work and food, while there were far fewer in the categories peace & justice, political voice and water.”
Winners Impact Shakers Awards
Public voting is open from May 25th until June 18th, 2021. Winners will be announced on June 21st and be invited to participate in an intensive Alternative Fundraising Bootcamp. They will also receive access to unique networking opportunities and win more prizes from our partners: Quest Impact Design Studio, EVPA, Mikme, SeedTribe, UpEffect, Business Spirit Platform and Adobe.
Voting is possible via www.impactshakersawards.com/finalists.
Calendar Impact Shakers Awards
- 1 March - 1 May Applications
- 7 May - 20 May Pre-selection by jury
- 25 May - 18 June Public voting
- 21 June Awards Announcement
Infographic Impact Shakers Awards
PDF - 30 Mb
