A startup can have a strong idea, the right technology and an ambitious team. But turning that potential into a scalable solution and measurable impact rarely happens if they stay in a corner of the room. At Impact Deal, we believe acceleration is not only about providing startups with knowledge and tools. It is about bringing the right people around the table, at the right moment, to address the right challenge.
Over the years, we have built an ecosystem that brings together Data Club members, Ecosystem Partners, mentors, experts, investors and Impact Deal alumni. Each contributes different resources, experiences and perspectives, but they share one objective: helping impact-driven startups move forward. And as the program evolves, their role is becoming increasingly hands-on.
More than a network of partners
Not every startup enters Impact Deal with the same needs. One might be looking for a specific dataset to validate its technology. Another might need to challenge its go-to-market strategy, understand a new industry, find a technological partner or connect with a potential client.
This is why we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to acceleration. Throughout the program, we create opportunities for startups to engage directly with different members of the Impact Deal ecosystem, sometimes individually, sometimes by bringing several partners, mentors and alumni around the same table to focus on one startup and one concrete challenge.
Different backgrounds generate different questions. A corporate can bring an industry perspective, a mentor can challenge the business model, an alumnus can share the experience of having faced a similar obstacle, while another partner might identify a potential collaboration. The objective is not simply to provide advice. It is to turn the collective expertise of the ecosystem into actionable opportunities for each startup.
Data Club: turning data into collaboration
Data has been at the heart of Impact Deal since its first edition. Our Data Club members are organisations willing to explore how their data, technologies and industry expertise can support innovative solutions with social or environmental impact. During the program, startups and Data Club members work together to identify relevant use cases and explore opportunities for data access, technical validation, PoCs and business collaboration.
But the value of these interactions often goes beyond the dataset itself. A request for data can become the starting point for a deeper conversation around technology or market needs. A first meeting can evolve into a PoC, and a collaboration initiated during the program can continue well beyond the acceleration journey. The goal is therefore not simply to make data available, but to create the conditions for data to become an enabler of innovation and collaboration.
Mentors: experience that becomes actionable
Alongside our partners, mentors play a key role in the acceleration journey. Rather than providing generic advice, mentors are matched with startups according to their expertise and the specific challenges identified during the program. They bring the perspective of people who have built companies, worked within specific industries, scaled technologies or navigated investment and growth challenges themselves.
Throughout the acceleration phase, this relationship gives founders a space to step outside day-to-day execution, challenge assumptions and work through strategic decisions with someone who can bring both experience and an external perspective. And sometimes, the most valuable perspective comes from someone who has recently been on the other side of the table.
From participants to contributors: the role of alumni
As Impact Deal grows, so does its community of alumni. Former participants bring something particularly valuable to new cohorts: first-hand experience of the program combined with the experience of continuing to build their companies after it.
They know the questions founders are asking because, not long ago, they were asking them too. Their involvement allows knowledge, connections and lessons learned during one edition to flow into the next. And in some cases, the relationship evolves even further. Latitudo 40 is a great example: after participating in the 3rd edition of Impact Deal as a startup, Latitudo 40 returned for the 4th edition this time as a Data Club member.
The transition from participant to partner captures something fundamental about the ecosystem we are trying to build: startups don’t necessarily leave the Impact Deal community when their acceleration journey ends: their role within it can evolve. Today’s accelerated startup can become tomorrow’s mentor, partner, data provider or open a completely new opportunity for the startups that follow.
A two-way opportunity
This collaborative model creates value on both sides. For startups, the ecosystem provides access to data, expertise, industry knowledge, potential clients, investors and peers that would otherwise be difficult to reach within a traditional acceleration path.
For partners, participating in Impact Deal means getting closer to emerging technologies and entrepreneurs working on concrete social and environmental challenges. It creates an opportunity to scout innovative solutions, explore new use cases, test collaborations and engage directly with startups rather than observing innovation from the outside.
And for mentors and alumni, it is an opportunity to put experience back into the ecosystem: helping the next generation of founders move faster and avoid some of the obstacles they have already encountered.
Building an ecosystem that grows with its startups
With every edition, Impact Deal is becoming more than an acceleration program. We are building a community where data, expertise, experience, technology and opportunities circulate between organisations and entrepreneurs, and where the relationship between a startup and the program can continue to evolve long after Demo Day.
Because creating impact at scale requires more than a great startup. It takes an ecosystem.
Want to be part of it?
Whether you are a corporate, data provider, innovation hub, technology player, investor, expert or former entrepreneur, there are different ways to contribute to the Impact Deal ecosystem. Bring your data. Bring your expertise. Bring a challenge worth solving. And let’s see what happens when we put the right people around the same table.
