Ananda

Europe at our Portfolio’s Heart
We fuel social change in our front yard:
highly scalable enterprises with impact
and headquarters in Europe.
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Raremark

Raremark allows sufferers and their families to be better and more scientifically informed in order to manage their conditions while helping research scientists to find new treatments.
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Julie Walters
Founder
Peter Coë
Co-Founder

Customers

Pharmaceutical companies

Beneficiaries

Patients and their families

Headquarter

London, UK

Area of Activity

Global

Founded

2016

Mike Kennedy

Venture Partner
Mike is passionate about entrepreneurs and his overriding concern is to guide them on their journey to achieving a successful outcome. Mike was co-founder of Inogesis, a start-up intelligently connecting dynamic innovators and blue-chip organisations (Lockheed Martin, Unilever, GSK) to solve business challenges and deliver outstanding innovation through collaboration. Prior to Inogesis Mike was Managing Partner of Restoration Partners working with visionary entrepreneurs including Mel Morris (Prevxx and King.com). Mike spent over a decade in the venture capital industry with 3i plc, YFM Group, Electra and Acuity Capital, and he spent the first decade of his career in the consumer sector with Unilever. An islander by birth, Mike has never lost his love for the land and sea and fondness for the odd hour spent tractor driving.

Talea

Hourly home care provider shaping the care of the future.
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Marcel Baltes
Founder
Denis Ciofu
Founder

Customers

–

Beneficiaries

Elderly care patients at home and their relatives

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2016

Dr. Aline Vedder

Investment Manager
Aline has always been drawn to technological innovation and entrepreneurial challenges. Prior to joining Ananda Ventures she formed part of the investment team of Munich based growth fund Acton Capital Partners and developed expertise in the fields of digital health, direct-to-consumer brands and fintech. She started her career at Rocket Internet in Berlin where she gained operational experience and consulted founders across Rocket’s core geographies in marketing and communications. She also headed the global PR team of a fintech portfolio company. Aline holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a PhD degree in Medical Psychology and Sociology from LMU Munich. Away from work, she’s happiest on skis or hiking the Bavarian Alps.

Katrin Lech

Assistant
Katrin supports us as assistant. After completing her apprenticeship as a financial assistant at the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, she gained her first experiences as an assistant in the real estate business. In addition, she studies for a Bachelor degree in Business Administration. In her spare time Katrin likes to play basketball and to go on hikes with scouts. She is also passionate about working with people with handicap and volunteering at a project in Malawi, Africa.

MobileJob

Recruiting platform specifically tailored to the needs of blue-collar workers, thus, lowering hurdles to application processes.
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Steffen Manes
Founder

Customers

Companies

Beneficiaries

Blue-collar workers, e.g. mechanics, caregivers, warehouse operatives or commercial drivers

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2014

HomeTouch

Market place for live-in care focused on dementia patients.
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Dr. Jamie Wilson
Founder

Customers

Beneficiaries

Elderly care patients at home and their relatives

Headquarter

London

Area of Activity

UK

Founded

2015 (current business model)

Diana Meyel

Advisor
As managing partner and CFO/COO at CIPIO Partners, a large secondary fund, Diana contributes her extensive venture capital and growth capital knowledge as advisor to Ananda Impact Ventures. Prior to joining Cipio, she worked as a finance manager at Wellington Partners, a pan-European venture capital firm. Before this role, she was a senior risk analyst for Dresdner Bank Group nka Commerzbank in Germany and Bogotá (Colombia). Diana holds a degree in Banking Administration from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Dr. Christian Saller

Advisor
Christian is an invaluable part of our advisory body due to his unique entrepreneurial and venture capital experience. Before becoming a general partner at Holtzbrinck Ventures, he was the CEO of the flight search engine Swoodoo, which was sold to KAYAK. He continued managing KAYAK’s European organization, oversaw the Europe-wide marketing strategy roll-out and became involved in the successful NASDAQ-IPO as well as the subsequent sale to global online travel leader Priceline. At the beginning of his career, Christian started as an international strategy consultant, as an investment manager at a venture capital company and a manager of two media start-ups. He holds a doctorate “summa cum laude” in Mathematics and received an MBA with distinction from the London Business School.

Dr. Thomas Jetter

Advisor
Dr. Thomas Jetter injects more than 25 years of experience in investment banking, strategy consulting and private equity into Ananda as an advisor. After an undergraduate degree and PhD at the University of Saarbrücken (Germany), he began his career at JP Morgan in Frankfurt am Main and New York City. At McKinsey & Company, he was an engagement manager in different industry sectors out of Frankfurt and Sao Paolo. Later, Thomas became Partner at Permira Beteiligungsberatung GmbH, where he led the chemistry unit and supported the founding of offices outside of Europe. Today Thomas runs Digital Plus Partners, an industry 4.0 private equity fund.

Lennart Hergel

Partner
Lennart’s desire to develop innovative solutions led him to head Ananda’s office in London. For more than 20 years now, he has been active in the financial sector, with previous roles in New York, London and Hong Kong. After starting his career as an investment banker at JP Morgan, he moved on to solving complex financing challenges and founding his own company. Driven by a passion for social innovation and the challenges early-stage enterprises, he also took the role of investment manager at Unltd (the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs). Lennart is a passionate cook, climber and cyclist when not trying to make his latest tech gadget work. Lennart has a Finance degree from Loughborough University and is a graduate of the JP Morgan Finance Program.

Zoe Peden

Investment Manager
Zoe is an experienced tech entrepreneur with over 20 years operating and board experience in the education, health and social care space. A product developer with a passion for sales and marketing, she’s no stranger to the startup grind. Zoe is well integrated into the London startup scene and has a particular interest in deep tech for impact. Zoe holds an undergraduate degree from LSE, an MBA from Henley Business School and is a visiting lecturer at Cass Business School. Away from the grind she likes to spend time in karaoke booths blasting out rock anthems.

Felix Ferstl

Associate
Felix gained first-hand experience in an educational start-up after completing the extracurricular programme of SEA, the Social Entrepreneurship Academy in Munich. By working in marketing and business development for the alternative energy provider Polarstern, he also became a part of the Munich social entrepreneurship scene. Felix studied economics in Munich and Copenhagen, and – besides his associate role at Ananda – continues to complete his Bachelor degree in Philosophy. Felix is a passionate surfer and practices every week at the Munich “Isar-Wave”.

Dr. Bernd Klosterkemper

Partner
Bernd leverages his expertise in finance and management for the benefit of Ananda. He started his career at McKinsey & Company following his doctorate/law degree at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). As a project manager with focus on financial institutions and change management, he gained experience on the ground in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Malaysia. In his position as CEO of PlanetHome AG, a finance and property service provider, he added vital entrepreneurial knowhow to his skill set. A major personal success for Bernd was to build PlanetHome Group to become the leading B2B-Partner in its space, with more than 500 employees. Despite coming from the rather flat Northrhine area Bernd has become a real fan of mountain sports.

Beatrix Wiedemann

Backoffice & Marketing
Beatrix draws on many years of experience as an assistant in multiple companies, particularly in the field of advertising and marketing. As a non-native resident of Munich, she specifically loves the proximity to the mountains and lakes around Munich and loves the opera.

Prof. Dr. Arne Kröger

Impact Advisor
Prof. Dr. Arne Kroeger is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki, Finland. He has also worked as an investment analyst for Ananda Impact Ventures for four years and still consults us on impact assessments of potential and current investments. Arne has participated in research projects in cooperation with the Bertelsmann Foundation and the World Bank Group. In the context of his research, he spent two months in Singapore with Impact Investment Exchange Asia. His research focuses on how (social) entrepreneurial activities and funding can address societal grand challenges (hunger, poverty, social inequality, climate change, etc.) and how they can be measured and assessed. His research has been published in well-known outlets such as The Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies and others. Arne is Associate Editor of the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. He also served as a reviewer for The Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing and others.

Johannes Weber

Managing Partner & Founder
Johannes is a very passionate entrepreneur. Besides founding several start-ups in asset management and IT, he continues pursuing his dream to place business at society’s service. After selling his stake in PANDA Investment Management – then partner of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) -, he started Ananda to fulfil his vision for the European impact finance ecosystem. Johannes was recognized as a ‘Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum’ in 2014. He is a graduate of the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, and studied Entrepreneurship and Finance at the HEC in Lausanne and the International Business School in Budapest. Johannes loves being in nature especially when ski-touring, kitesurfing or rock climbing.

Vitabook

vitabook helps above all the seriously and chronically ill as well as people in need of nursing care. It provides users with their own personal health account and helps avoid dangerous combination of medications.
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Markus Bönig
Founder

Customers

Pharmacies, users are patients, family members, caregivers and nursing services.

Beneficiaries

The seriously or chronically ill and care-dependent

Headquarter

Hamburg

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2010

Verbavoice

People with hearing impairment are enabled to participate flexibly in education and society via written and sign language speech transcriptions. Transcriptions are transmitted live on canvas, live-streaming or on smartphones.
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Peter Kremer
CEO

Customers

Beneficiaries

Hearing impaired and deaf people

Headquarter

Munich

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2009

ResQ Club

An innovative, simple and cost-effective app for selling excess meals of restaurants and bakeries to consumers.
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Sauli Böhm
CEO
Mai Goth Olesen
Co-Founder

Customers

Restaurants and bakeries determined to reduce food waste

Beneficiaries

People wishing to consume low-cost takeaway meals in an ecologically sustainable and conscious way (e.g. students)

Headquarter

Helsinki

Area of Activity

Finland, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands

Founded

2015

Repositive

A unique, ethical, safe and effective platform for the exchange of human genomic data.
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Fiona Nielsen
Founder
Adrian Alexa
Founder

Customers

Beneficiaries

Patients suffering from rare, previously incurable diseases

Headquarter

Cambridge, UK

Area of Activity

UK

Founded

2014

Media 4 Care

Media 4 Care developed the “Media Dementia” tablet PC, a special media offering to improve the wellbeing and individual care of people with dementia.
To Website
Marc Aurel Engels
Founder
Philipp Gaerte
Founder

Customers

Nursing homes and services, occupational therapists, relatives

Beneficiaries

People with dementia as well as caregivers and relatives

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2013

Little Bird

A simple, transparent system for registering, allocating and managing childcare slots in municipalities.
To Website
Anke Odrig
Founder

Customers

Municipalities, welfare organisations and private agencies

Beneficiaries

Children and families, especially those with an immigrant background, the educationally disadvantaged and single parents

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2009

Kinderzentren Kunterbunt

Flexible and affordable daycare. The centers address the needs and issues faced by working parents and their children.
To Website
Björn Czinczoll
Founder

Customers

Companies, municipalities

Beneficiaries

Families, working parents, children

Headquarter

Nuremberg

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

1998

Insane Logic

An effective support for individuals with learning and/or speech impairments. Insane Logic develops mobile solutions that improve their ability to communicate and help them to develop language skills.
To Website
Zoe Peden
Founder
Andrew Jackman
Founder

Customers

Early years education providers, primary schools, special schools and supported living institutions, speech and language therapists and individuals with communication issues

Beneficiaries

Learning disabled individuals, “English as an additional language” (EAL) pupils, communication-impaired early years pupil children in need of longer-term speech and language therapy intervention, dementia patients

Headquarter

London

Area of Activity

UK

Founded

2011

IESO Digital Health

IESO offers discreet, quality-controlled online access to psychological therapy. This enables underserved and disadvantaged people suffering from mental illness to seek help.
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Simon Cartmell
Executive Chairman
Dr. Andy Blackwell
CSO and Corporate Strategy Officer
Dan Clark
CEO

Customers

State funded patients, self-referred or referred by the National Health Service (UK)

Beneficiaries

People who are suffering from mental illness

Headquarter

Cambridge, UK

Area of Activity

UK and USA

Founded

2000 (commercialisation post 2011)

Essex Social Impact Bond

An effective, evidence-based care prevention program for children with extreme behavioral problems, based in Essex, UK. By using ‘multi-systematic therapy’, it ensures that children do not have to enter local authority care.
To Website

Customers

Essex County Council, Action for Children, Social Finance

Beneficiaries

Looked after children; Children at the edge of care

Headquarter

London

Area of Activity

Essex County, UK

Founded

2012

Deutschland Rundet Auf

Generation of a huge donation volume by collecting micro donations. Even former „non-donors“ are now empowered to create positive change.
To Website
Christian Vater
Founder
Nina Jäcker
CEO

Customers

Big retailers in Germany

Beneficiaries

Social projects in Germany, which receive 100% of the donation volume

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2009

Company Bike Solutions

Company Bike Solutions is partnering with corporate clients to offer employees leasing bicycles and electric bikes cheapened by salary conversion. Commuting is shifted to bikes, emissions and urban congestion reduced while employee health promoted.
To Website
Markus Maus
Founder
Derk Möller
Founder

Customers

Medium sized and large companies

Beneficiaries

Employees, especially commuters, of medium sized and large companies

Headquarter

Munich

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2012

Careship

Professional, quality-assured care and support services for elderly care patients, improving quality of life for the senior and their relatives.
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Antonia and Nikolaus Albert
Founders

Customers

Beneficiaries

Elderly care patients at home and their relatives

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany

Founded

2015

Arbor

Arbor helps schools with an efficient management information system to learn from their data and automate workflows. Thereby, student outcomes and the quality of education can be improved.
To Website
Emile Axelrad and James Weatherill
Founders

Customers

English primary and secondary school including ”Multi-academy trusts”

Beneficiaries

Pupils

Headquarter

London

Area of Activity

UK

Founded

2011

Third Space Learning

Third Space Learning is a unique and effective one-to-one online numeracy tutoring program for children with numeracy weaknesses from economically deprived backgrounds.
To Website
Tom Hooper
Founder and CEO

Customers

Primary schools

Beneficiaries

Children with numeracy weaknesses for economically deprived backgrounds

Headquarter

London

Area of Activity

UK

Founded

2012

Florian Erber

Managing Partner & Founder
Florian combines strong venture capital know how with extensive entrepreneurial experience. After beginning his career as a business consultant, he joined the German venture capital firm Wellington Partners and served as an investment manager on multiple company Boards. His entrepreneurial journey includes roles such as managing director for sales and services in the EMEA region to US high-tech start-up WhereNet (acquired by Zebra Technologies), and CFO of Munich-based software start-up Aloqa (sold to Motorola Mobility/Google). Being an enthusiastic ski and snowboard instructor, Florian enjoys some time off in the mountains in winter. He studied Electrical Engineering at the Technical University of Munich and the ENSTE Toulouse, France, and holds an MBA from the TU Munich and the University of California, Berkeley.

Auticon

Autistic individuals receive the opportunity to contribute their skills to the IT sector (e.g. Software Testing) and to independently fund their lives.
To Website
Dirk Müller-Remus
Founder
Kurt Schöffer
CEO

Customers

Enterprises, especially in the IT sector

Beneficiaries

People diagnosed with autism

Headquarter

Berlin

Area of Activity

Germany, France, UK, Switzerland

Founded

2011