Key takeaways from Maki.vc Sustainability Report 2023

VC funding should always be about investing more than money. By keeping ESG at the core of our work, we are able to build companies that can navigate the challenges of reaching sustained business growth.

In this blog, we will share the findings of the Maki Sustainability Report 2023 including progress made by our portfolio companies, and have a closer look at our internal operations, to ensure accountability.

The Sustainability Report will provide us with valuable insights into our portfolio companies' ESG journey, which will enable us to offer concrete and relevant support where and when it is needed.

The survey includes responses from a total of 32 portfolio companies. Below is a snapshot of the respondents and the key takeaways from the survey.

You can download the full report here.

Portfolio results

Composition of respondents

The most common roles of the respondents were CFO and CEO, indicating that ESG topics are increasingly falling under the C-level positions. Altogether the respondents were from 9 different countries (Finland, Estonia, the U.K., Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden).

ESG maturity is growing

We asked the respondents to rate their company’s overall ESG maturity on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). The average score increased from 2.6 in the previous year to 3. Despite companies still displaying some level of uncertainty regarding their ESG maturity naturally stemming from their early-stage status, we can see more companies embracing ESG-related practices, such related to board work, employee well-being, and environmental initiatives.

Headcount

Maki portfolio companies in Fund I and Fund II have created nearly 1200 new jobs.

Diversity within companies keeps improving

The survey shows that the average number of nationalities among all employees has increased by 18%. This development is primarily driven by the natural growth of the teams as well as the expansion of the operations to new countries.

Maki strives to support gender diversity within our portfolio firms by educating, supporting, and providing resources, such as best practices in recruiting. We are committed to eliminating any unconscious biases in the investment process and, for instance, aim to promote gender diversity within our own team. The board gender diversity among our portfolio companies is 15% which exceeds the industry average of 12.2% reported by FVCA (2023). In Maki portfolio companies, 35% of founders or co-founders identify as female.

Maki.vc internal operations

Internal gender diversity remains high and 2023 was the second year in a row Maki.vc conducted internal CO2-emission calculations.

Access the full report here

Did you have any comments or questions regarding the Sustainability Report or the ESG work we do at Maki? I’m always up for a chat, so feel free to reach out at mona@maki.vc