DRAPER RICHARDS KAPLAN FOUNDATION AND SHAPING IMPACT GROUP
FORGE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO ADVANCE SOCIAL IMPACT INNOVATION ACROSS EUROPE
THE HAGUE, NL (01 July 2024) – Today, Draper Richards Kaplan (DRK) Foundation, one of the largest global venture philanthropy firms supporting social enterprises, and Shaping Impact Group, a fund management company with three impact funds under management, announce their new strategic partnership to accelerate the growth of early-stage social impact ventures in the European and Dutch markets. DRK Foundation and Shaping Impact Group join forces at Riviervismarkt 3, The Hague to deepen their collaboration. This partnership brings together two organisations deeply committed to driving positive societal change through innovative solutions.
Borrowed from its venture capital legacy, DRK Foundation finds, funds, and supports exceptional leaders with innovative and highly impactful ideas that have the potential to scale. DRK focuses on supporting exceptional entrepreneurs, who are trying to eradicate some of the most intangible problems for vulnerable communities worldwide. DRK Foundation provides unrestricted capital, and rigorous, ongoing support by joining the board and partnering with the leadership to help build capacity in the organisation to scale their impact. Since 2002, the DRK Foundation has backed more than 230 social enterprises, impacting over 400 million lives across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States to date. In 2020, DRK Foundation opened its European headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands – a city with a motto of “doing good & doing business” and a belief that economic success goes hand in hand with solutions for a better world.
Shaping Impact Group brings over ten years of expertise in social impact investment, working tirelessly to generate maximum societal impact with a fair financial return. As a dedicated investment team, they have collaborated with investors, governments, funds, and foundations to leverage available resources effectively. Shaping Impact Group’s impact-first approach and extensive experience in private equity and venture capital, make them a formidable ally in the pursuit of social cohesion and positive change.
“DRK Foundation and Shaping Impact Group are both pioneers in impact-first investments and venture capital and have long been aligned on the need for more early-stage impact-first investment capital for social entrepreneurs,” said Lisa Jordan, Senior Managing Director and Europe Director at DRK Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with Shaping Impact Group to further our shared mission of driving social impact innovation across the continent.”
As impact-first investors focused on social cohesion in the Netherlands and greater Europe, DRK Foundation and Shaping Impact Group will share pipeline and sourcing opportunities, educate and learn from their combined pool of stakeholders, and create a
larger pool of extraordinary entrepreneurs in the early stages of their organisational development with this new strategic partnership. By combining their resources, expertise, and networks, both organisations are leveraging their unique strengths – DRK Foundation’s three-year non-financial support focused on scaling and Shaping Impact Group’s superior reach and M&A experience – to broaden their knowledge and impact in the Dutch landscape.
“It remains difficult for early-stage innovations to find the right support and capital. As Shaping Impact Group and DRK are complementary in their offer this means they can accelerate the growth of early-stage impact startups. By combining the non-financial support of DRK with equity investments of Shaping Impact Group, startups can get the right support in the most difficult stage” says Jamy Goewie, Partner at Shaping Impact Group.
For more information about DRK Foundation Netherlands and Shaping Impact Group
Netherlands, please visit:
https://shapingimpact.group/en/
Or reach out to Cheyenne Kooijman from DRK Foundation via europe@drkfoundation.org
