BRUSSELS, November 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

For 2015-6 the European Venture Philanthropy and Social Investment sector is reporting growth overall, stabilising budgets, good dealflow, new smaller players entering the sector and a strong increase in co-investment among peers.

The State of Venture Philanthropy and Social Investment (VP/SI) in Europe|The EVPA Survey 2015/2016 explores how investments continue to be made across different geographies, sectors, beneficiaries, and signals continuing market growth together with increasing collaboration and interest in investing opportunities with a positive societal impact. It provides detailed insight into variables such as types of investors, the number and size of investments made, expected returns, exits, organisational support and impact measurement practices. 

The EVPA Survey 2015/2016 questioned 108 VP/SI organisations (VPOs) across Europe, either seeking a social return only, or accepting or seeking both a social and financial return. Social (impact) investment funds are becoming an increasingly important part of the venture philanthropy landscape, making up 30% of respondents in this year's survey. The largest number of these funds are located in Benelux, followed by France, Germany and the UK.

The 108 surveyed organisations invested an average of €7.8 million through VP/SI activities. Over Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 a number of smaller players (with budgets under €2.5million) have entered the sector. €6.5 billion was invested by the respondents  in social organisations and projects since they started operations (a 30% increase compared to FY 2013). These investments went primarily to non-profits (35%) and social enterprises (37%).

There is a sharp rise in co-investment between peers since FY 2013. 63% of respondents have co-invested in the past and 19% said they are interested in doing so, even if they have not co-invested yet. Of the respondents that answered both this and the last survey, the organisations that have co-invested increased from 69% to 80%.

Bernard Uyttendaele, CEO of EVPA, commented: "We're really excited to see this rise in co-investment, which, to us, indicates more collaboration, a pooling of resources, expertise and best practices to ultimately see more impact." He added: "There remains opportunity for further collaboration, across borders, between different types of investors and between public and private actors. Clearly this is a great opportunity that is being seized, signalling increased momentum for the sector for the years ahead."

Surveyed VP/SI organisations have no shortage in investment opportunities. Over FY 2015, respondents screened 7,520 potential opportunities. On average, each VPO screened 86 organisations, did further due diligence on 17 of them and selected 9 investees.   For FY 2015, the average number of total investees in the portfolio of a VPO was 36.

Even if social return is still the main priority for the surveyed European VPOs, a large majority anticipates capital repayment or a profit in future (respectively 31% and 39%).

For those respondents who have undertaken exits in FY 2015, 41% received full capital repayment and 29.5% a positive return.

The full survey and snapshot overview can be consulted here.

About the EVPA Survey 2015/2016
EVPA acts as the main repository of data on venture philanthropy and social investment in Europe. The 2015-6 survey includes data from 108 venture philanthropy and social investment organisations (VPOs) based in Europe, investing both in Europe and globally. The report compares data collected from four previous surveys on the sector.  The purpose of the report is to provide key statistics and raise awareness about a sector that is evolving rapidly so as to attract further resources to the sector.

About EVPA 

The European Venture Philanthropy Association is a lively community of organisations sharing the same vision and a common goal: creating positive societal impact through venture philanthropy and social investment.  Our membership covers a full range of venture philanthropy and social investment activities including venture philanthropy funds, social investors, grantmaking foundations, impact investing funds, private equity firms, professional service firms, philanthropy advisers, banks and business schools.

SOURCE European Venture Philanthropy Association