Software isn’t just eating the world – it’s saving it too. Our founders are solving meaningful global problems through early-stage tech. We’re here to help them scale.
If you’re into developing solutions to tackle climate change or inequality, read on.
The great businesses of the future will solve the world's most pressing challenges – our goal is to find the best, today.
We invest in European early-stage impact ventures between pre-seed and series B.
We strive for speed and quality in our decision-making. That's why we walk every founder through a 6-step investment process designed to quickly take promising ventures from first contact point to our investment committee. We do this by prioritizing short feedback loops and granting internal buy-in as long as at least 1 senior principal and 1 partner believe in the opportunity.
Meet the people building businesses that solve problems we actually care about.
Shaping the workforce for the digital economy by investing in the talent of tomorrow.
There are over 700k unfilled vacancies for technology roles in Europe. Mariano Kostelec, Marta Palmeiro, Miguel Santo Amaro and Sergio Pereira co-founded Student Finance to tackle this issue. Student Finance is a platform that analyses real-time job market data and partners with education providers of ‘in-demand’ skills, to finance their students through Income Share Agreements (“ISAs”).
Building a fully transparent gemstone and jewellery brand to empower workers and consumers alike.
Laura founded Fenton & Co to create a brand with foundations of honesty and transparency to drive systemic change in the jewellery industry. Today, she is partnering with 50 of the world's best suppliers to build elegant and affordable products, raising the bar for the industry across the supply-chain.
Crowdsourcing classrooms and language teachers to connect locals, migrants and refugees.
Hugo wanted to use informal language learning as a way to connect locals with migrants and refugees. Today, his platform SPEAK offers a crowdsourced, tech-enabled language and culture exchange with a vibrant community of ~20k members from 154 countries.
Leveraging Internet of Things to tackle the $1 trillion of food wasted annually.
Marc co-founded Winnow to tackle food waste in commercial kitchens through a combination of proprietary hardware and software. Today, he helps clients such as Compass Group and IKEA save hundreds of thousands of tons of food waste annually.
Meet the team positioning Lisbon at the centre of European impact tech. They back climate change startups too, social tech is just a cooler buzzword.
Henry is co-founder of Mustard Seed, and a Board Member of MAZE. He was formerly a Director and Portfolio Manager at BlackRock in London, having started his career at Goldman Sachs. Henry was the recipient of the GSGL academic scholarship for social entrepreneurship and holds a First Class Honours degree from London School of Economics in Economics and Economic History. Henry serves on the board of Winnow.
António has been working in impact investment for +10 years in the UK, Canada and Continental Europe. He worked on deals that have mobilized over 200M€ into impact ventures. He founded MAZE after being an Associate at Social Finance UK. Antonio is a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum and visiting professor of Impact Investment at NOVA SBE. Holds an MsC in Business Administration from Católica Business School.
Cristina is a management consultant turned into storyteller. She was an analyst at EY, seconded at Impact Investment Group in Australia and learned the ins and outs of startups at Mellow. Cristina has created engaging content for +50 entrepreneurs and curated dozens of unforgettable MAZE events for our partners. BsC in Economics from NOVA SBE, BsC in Political Science from ISCSP.
Orson backs entrepreneurs who are on a mission to learn while solving the world's hardest problems, focusing on consumer businesses with network effects.
Orson is a Senior Principal. Prior to Mustard Seed Maze, Orson was one of the first joiners at Mustard Seed in London in 2015, where he led investments into businesses including Mush, HireHand, Knok and Hype Labs. The last two kickstarted Orson's love affair with Portugal. Previously, Orson was at BlackRock where he worked on global product and business strategy for the Fundamental Active Equity leadership team. Outside of work, Orson is a keen CrossFitter, a Portuguese language novice and a repressed gamer.
João leads MAZE's capital advisory services, structuring some of Portugal's first seed rounds for impact ventures. Previous experience includes MaRS Centre for Impact Investment (Canada), where he was seconded to design impact portfolios for foundations and wealth managers, as well as Head of Onsite at Zalora (Rocket Internet, Singapore). João taught Social Entrepreneurship at UEM (Mozambique) and has BSc in Economics, MSc in Management from NOVA SBE.
Prior to joining the fund, Ana was a Project Management Officer at BNP Paribas where she mastered the delicate art of managing operations. Ana is also an alumnus from SheCodes and a post-grad in Applied Management at Nova SBE in Lisbon. Ana holds a MSc in Culture Studies in Lisbon, and BSc in Languages, Literature and Cultures in Lisbon and Cambridge.
