Frequently Asked Questions about ECIIF
(1) What is the goal of ECIIF?
The European Catalytic Impact Investing Fund II (ECIIF II or ECIIF) is a Luxembourg-based impact venture fund that invests in transformative, exit- and non-exit-oriented European impact ventures and enables them to create deep social and environmental impact at scale. With a first close of EUR 21.45 million in September 2026 and a target volume of EUR 80 million, the fund aims to build a portfolio of up to 40 impact ventures across 4 key verticals: education & employment, health & care, food & agriculture, circular economy & climate action.
For more about an Art.9 SFDR-compliant fund: general classification / or see our ECIIF SFDR disclosure page
(2) What makes ECIIF unique?
ECIIF is the only impact venture fund across Europe that provides patient capital to impact ventures and benefits from a catalytic InvestEU guarantee by the European Investment Fund (EIF). The fund offers investors clear additionality in terms of impact and access to profit pools that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate in. A strongly diversified portfolio will create an attractive risk-return-impact profile, combined with partial risk protection through the EUR 10 million catalytic guarantee.
For impact ventures, ECIIF broadens the scope of investable companies through an innovative model. Besides exit-oriented impact ventures, we consciously include investments in transformative ventures that pursue more organic growth trajectories and don’t want to exit their companies (i.e., sell their company to a strategic or financial investor).
Traditional venture capital (VC) requires at least a 10X return potential at an individual company level, as it bets on a small fraction of winners in the portfolio that provide outlier returns. This model works very well for some types of ventures but isn’t suitable for actively helping portfolio companies deepen their positive impact as they grow. At ECIIF, we believe that greater impact drives greater long-term value.
(3) Who is behind ECIIF?
In February 2026, Finanzierungsagentur für Social Entrepreneurship GmbH (FASE) and Chi Impact Capital (CHI) joined forces to create ECIIF. The fund builds on both the track record of FASE’s European Social Innovation and Impact Fund (ESIIF) and CHI’s Burning Issues Impact Fund (BIIF). ESIIF was launched in 2020 together with avesco Sustainable Finance AG as a joint venture. CHI introduced the BIIF in 2020 and has acted as its investment advisor since. Both predecessor funds are now fully invested. In the future, FASE and CHI plan to jointly manage the ECIIF under a newly formed management company called Catalytic Impact Partners. FASE and CHI build on a history of shared values and a close and long-term collaboration between their teams.
(4) Who is FASE?
FASE is the leading impact finance advisor across Europe. As an expert in mobilizing growth capital for impactful, early-stage impact ventures, FASE has successfully closed more than 110 transactions to date in a total volume of more than EUR 100 million. Co-founded with Ashoka Germany in 2013, FASE has become the trusted partner for European impact ventures & funds, investors, and policymakers for generating impact at scale for people and the planet. More at www.fa-se.de/en
(5) Who is CHI
Chi Impact Capital is an independent impact advisory firm based in Zurich/Switzerland. The firm manages the Burning Issues Impact Fund (BIIF) and also advises on select impact investing mandates. CHI’s focus lies on the deep end of social and environmental impact value creation via direct investments into core regenerative companies, where positive impact creation is an integral part of the company’s product or service. The CHI team believes in the need for a systems transformation towards both a regenerative economy and a more conscious form of investing. For example, CHI has been recognized as the best Impact Investing Advisory Firm in Switzerland in 2024, and its first fund has been awarded as one of the “Top Innovation Funds” by Uplink/World Economic Forum. More at www.chi-impact.com
(6) Why is more capital needed for impact ventures?
Impact ventures with social and environmental innovations often need more patient capital for their growth plans, either as subordinated loans or equity. At the same time, many European ventures are not exit-oriented (e.g., due to a specific ownership structure or strategy), and this mindset is typically in sharp conflict with mainstream investors’ return and exit expectations.
While the importance of technological innovation is increasingly acknowledged, social innovation is still neglected and underfunded. Yet it holds the potential to become a true game-changer for Europe’s future. The funding gap is estimated at EUR 1 billion (source: European Commission 2019). In 2022/23, a survey confirmed an average funding gap of 39% between financial needs and accessible financing (The European Social Enterprise Monitor, Euclid Network).
(7) What do we mean by “non-exit-oriented impact ventures”?
Non-exit-oriented impact ventures have founders and shareholders who don’t pursue an exit but intend to keep and grow the companies over a long time. They tend to focus more on profitability and sustainable growth than on aggressive “hockey stick” trajectories based on high spending. We often call these “the future European impact middle market”. Examples are companies with unusual structures such as cooperatives or steward-owned businesses. But also impact ventures with a traditional business structure can be part of this group if they intend to build a sustainable business and achieve long-term impact goals, rather than selling their company.
The non-exit orientation is a characteristic at the level of the impact venture and doesn’t imply that investors should stay on board forever. Instead, ECIIF uses self-liquidating instruments such as debt with an equity kicker or redeemable equity to provide a structured and planned exit for investors, without a need to sell the portfolio company.
(8) Why “catalytic capital” and “patient capital”?
ECIIF specifically addresses the massive funding gap for social innovations as described above. The fund is catalytic by nature as it uses a catalytic guarantee to derisk the fund for investors and provides catalytic capital to the full spectrum of transformative impact ventures, covering both exit- and non-exit-oriented companies.
“Patient capital” refers to longer-term investments where the fund is willing to forgo immediate returns in favour of more substantial, long-term value gains and impact.
Here are some “patient” characteristics of ECIIF:
• Long-term horizon: ECIIF is prepared to wait longer for more impact and reasonable financial returns from its investee companies, focusing more on cash multiples than on internal rates of return (IRR) as traditional VCs do.
• Tolerance for a broader risk-return profile: the catalytic InvestEU guarantee allows the fund to expand the investment universe to transformative impact ventures with a different risk-return profile and more organic growth trajectories.
• Supportive approach: ECIIF provides intensive support to the management of the portfolio companies when needed.
(9) What are ECIIF’s main investment targets and criteria?
ECIIF targets European impact ventures that meet the following key criteria:
(1) strong impact intention of the management
(2) net positive, measurable, social and/or environmental impact addressing 1 of the 4 verticals: education & employment, health & care, food & agriculture, circular economy & climate action.
(3) revenues EUR >500k and scalable business models with impact at their core
(4) break-even expected in 1-2 years.
ECIIF focuses on pre-Series A and Series A funding rounds and does initial investments of up to EUR 1.5 million, with potential follow-on investments of up to EUR 3.5 million. The geographic target is Europe, with a focus on DACH, Benelux and Spain.
(10) How exactly does the catalytic guarantee work?
The catalytic InvestEU guarantee by the European Investment Fund (EIF) provides partial protection of the portfolio against defaults. This means that net losses on loans can be recovered up to EUR 10 million. The guarantee protection is only applicable for (subordinated) loans and convertible loans, not for equity investments.
(11) I’m an impact venture, investor, or press representative who wants to know more. Who do I contact?
We are curious to hear from you. For any inquiries about ECIIF, please reach out to info@eciif.eu.
DISCLAIMER
For EU and UK investors:
These FAQ are not sufficient to allow investors to commit to acquiring interests or units or shares of the Fund nor any other particular alternative investment fund, it shall not amount to subscription forms or similar documents whether in a draft or a final form nor amount to constitutional documents, a prospectus or offering documents of a not yet established fund in a final form. This document does not constitute an offer or an invitation to subscribe to interests, units or shares of the Fund nor any other alternative investment funds and the information presented herein should not be relied upon because it is incomplete and may be subject to change.
For Swiss investors:
These FAQ are for information purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation or invitation to make an offer, to enter into a contract, to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments. This presentation has been prepared without regard to any specific or future investment objectives, particular financial or tax situation or individual needs of any particular recipient. The information in this document is provided without warranty or representation of any kind, is for informational purposes only and is intended for the personal use of the recipient only.