IMPACTASSETS 50™

An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

IA-50-2025-logo

An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

ImpactAssets 50 Help Topics
Filtering:
Use the filter categories on the left to narrow down your results. You can switch years via the dropdown menu. The numbers next to each filter represent the number of results available given your current selection. If you'd like to start over, simply click the 'Reset All Filters'� link.
Sorting:
Use the dropdown menu found in the top right to arrange your current set of results. Select your preferred sorting option and wait for the results to refresh.
Printing:
Use the print button to print the current page contents. This works for both the summary view and the full Fund Manager detail view.
ImpactAssets 50: A Global Landscape of Impact Investment Fund Managers
The ImpactAssets 50 (IA 50) is the first open-source, publicly published database of experienced private debt and equity impact investment fund managers.
https://www.impactassets.org/impactassets-50

ImpactAssets 50

An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

IA 50 2025 PROFILE

Better Ventures

Total Assets Under Management: $100 – 499M
Asset Class: Private Equity
Primary UN Sustainable Development Goal: 13 – Climate Action
Climate Change
Global Health
Workforce Development, Upskilling and Retraining

Firm Overview

Category: Venture Capital - Early Stage (Pre-seed/seed, Accelerator, Angel) - Developed Markets

Better Ventures backs founders on a mission to build a better world. We invest in startups leveraging science & technology to create impact at scale in climate, health, and economic opportunity. We write checks in pre-seed and seed stage companies and provide hands-on support to help them succeed. Better Ventures was founded in 2011 and is a Certified B Corporation. 

Firm Headquarters: United States
Years of Operation: 10 years or more
Total Assets Under Management:
$100 – 499M
Total Number of Investors: More than 25
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
Investment Thesis:

We invest in mission-driven, early-stage founders leveraging scientific breakthroughs and emerging technologies to decarbonize the economy, improve human health, and build a more equitable society.

Investment Overview:

Better Ventures invests in mission-driven, early-stage founders leveraging scientific breakthroughs and emerging technologies to decarbonize the economy, improve human health, and build a more equitable society. We form conviction at the earliest stages of venture and write checks of $500K to $1.5M at the pre-seed and seed stages, reserving for follow-on at Series A and beyond. Our approach with founders is hands-on, helping them achieve key milestones, attract high quality follow-on investors, and leverage their mission as a competitive advantage. We’ve been investing in mission-driven companies since 2011.

Company Differentiator:

Better Ventures builds on over a decade of experience to back founders leveraging scientific breakthroughs and emerging technologies in service of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We are pioneers in the impact space, known as category leaders, and are one of the few VC firms certified as a B Corp. As such, we attract like-minded founders who choose to partner with us because we understand them, and because we are aligned with the impact they want to see in the world. Just as mission is a competitive advantage for our companies, it is for us too. Our track record and longevity give founders the confidence that we are a trusted partner and in it for the long-term.  Our firm takes a holistic approach to the definition of impact, looking at companies that are making breakthroughs in deep tech and science in the focal areas of sustainability, healthcare, and economic opportunity.

Investment Example

Debut Bio is a synthetic biology company that leverages an innovative cell-free approach to biomanufacture high-value molecules in a climate-friendly way. The company’s proprietary cell-free biomanufacturing platform has B2B applications across various industries from food and wellness products to cosmetics, colors, therapeutics, and other industrial applications. Their process overcomes the limitations of cell-based fermentation and produces high-value ingredients more sustainably, saving water, waste, and carbon. The company raised a $40M Series B led by strategic investor L’Oreal and launched their first product, DEINDE, in skincare. We invested $750K in Debut’s seed round in 2019 and have since invested in subsequent rounds, bringing our total investment to $1M. Debut continues to be on a significant growth and innovation trajectory since that initial investment. 

Leadership and Team

Cumulative Leadership Experience in Impact Investing:
30 years or more
Cumulative Impact Experience of Top Three Firm Leaders:
30 years or more
Wes Selke – Founding Partner More Info

Wes enjoys rolling up his sleeves to help mission-driven entrepreneurs realize their vision for building high-growth world-changing companies. Wes has over 20 years of venture capital and investment experience with Better Ventures, Good Capital, William Blair, and Ernst & Young's Mergers & Acquisitions group. He earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and a BBA from the University of Michigan. Wes has volunteered with organizations around the globe, which has fueled his passion for applying his business skills to build a better world.

Rick Moss – Founding Partner More Info

Rick thrives on helping startups succeed. He can often be found at the whiteboard working through business models, organization building, customer engagement metrics or product road maps. He has over a decade of technology and entrepreneurship experience at The Modem Shop (which he founded) and Kleiner Perkins-backed WineShopper.com (acquired by Wine.com) and corporate venture capital experience with Oracle and Sun Microsystems. He holds a BA from Trinity College and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Lyndsey Boucherle – Partner More Info

Lyndsey is passionate about the role companies can play in catalyzing significant and scalable positive change in the world. She has 12 years of experience in finance with UBS in Switzerland, Hong Kong and the US where she held numerous leadership roles across investment products and services, business development and corporate strategy. She also helped launch ‘UBS and Society’, an initiative bringing together the bank’s sustainable investing and social impact offerings, and led a global program sourcing financial solutions to support the Sustainable Development Goals. She has spent the last decade advising social enterprises in Asia, Africa and the US and is passionate about connecting early stage entrepreneurs with the resources and capital to succeed and scale.

Financial Performance

Target Financial Returns Relative to Benchmark:
Above Market Rates
Actual Performance of Impact Products/Funds Relative to Target Financial Returns in the Past Three Years:
In line with initial target returns
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors or Donors
Quarterly

Impact Performance

Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments:
100%
Primary Impact Outcomes:
Addressing climate change and environmental issues
Secondary Impact Outcomes:
Conserving land, oceans, ecosystems and natural resources
Increasing access to workforce development services, job skilling and retraining
Creating jobs
Increasing access to education and improving educational outcomes
Increasing access to financial services
Increasing access to healthcare services and improving health
Increasing access to water and sanitation
Addressing gender inequities
Value-added Services Offered:
Business and legal training
Racial bias training or bias training
Other: Customer intros, fundraising support

Investments systematically target companies where social and/or environmental impact is integral to the product/service being created:

We employ a scorecard that rates impact the company is making on the world, founder personal and professional ties to the mission, and the company's mission and impact. We also track founder diversity across our deal flow and portfolio. 

Investments systematically include social and environmental sustainability practices in the due diligence process:

See above. We employ the same scorecard which rates these factors. We also track portfolio employee diversity on an annual basis. 

Impact Tracking and Monitoring

Impact is Tracked:
Yes
Impact Verified by an Independent Third-Party:
No
Social and/or Environmental Impact is Reported to Investors and Donors:
Yes – to the public
Third Party Validations:
Member of Impact Capital Managers
Impact Frontiers Cohort Participant
Implement recommendations from Task Force on Climate Related-Financial Disclosure
Net Zero Assets Managers Initiative
Utilizes standardized impact metrics (e.g. IRIS+, GIIRS, etc.)
Participant on steering committees or leadership roles within impact industry associations
Publisher or contributor to industry white paper or other research in impact investing

Learn More

Key Contact Name: Wes Selke
Phone: 510-725-9255
Mailing Address:

470 25th St, Oakland, CA 94612 USA

Apply for the IA 50 2022

The application period to become an ImpactAssets 50 2022 Fund Manager will open in September 2021!
To stay informed on the application process, sign up here.

IA 50 2026: Apply for Consideration

The application period for the IA 50 2026 will open in September 2025. To stay informed on the application process, sign up here.