Key takeaways from Maki.vc Sustainability Report 2025
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At Maki.vc, we believe sustainability is about building companies that last. Our 2025 Sustainability Report brings together insights from all 42 active portfolio companies, achieving a 100% response rate and providing our most comprehensive picture yet of how sustainability practices are evolving within our portfolio.
This year’s report also introduces Responsible AI and cybersecurity as new reporting areas, reflecting their growing importance in long-term value creation. In addition to portfolio insights, the report reviews Maki.vc’s own ESG practices and how sustainability is integrated throughout our investment process and internal operations.
Here are some of the key takeaways from this year’s report.
You can download the full report here.
ESG maturity
ESG maturity continues to strengthen as portfolio companies scale. This year, the portfolio’s average ESG maturity score remained 3.0 out of 5, with Fund I companies averaging 3.4, compared with 2.9 for Fund II and 2.8 for Fund III. The results suggest that ESG practices become more established as companies mature, with governance and sustainability capabilities developing alongside business growth.
Governance
Strong governance is becoming the norm as companies mature. Most portfolio companies have key policies in place, including Codes of Conduct (93%), GDPR policies (86%), and cybersecurity and data management policies (83%). At the same time, ESG is increasingly being embedded into day-to-day decision-making, with nearly two-thirds of companies assigning formal responsibility to a CEO or dedicated team member.
Diversity
Diversity remains a key focus for Maki.vc. Today, 29% of portfolio companies are female-founded or co-founded, accounting for 31.2% of total capital invested, 33.2% of follow-on capital, and 28.3% of initial investments. We also saw continued improvements in female and non-binary representation among employees. While these trends are encouraging, increasing representation in technical roles and at board level remains an important opportunity as companies grow.
A notable highlight in 2025 was the announcement of the Series A rounds of Volare (€26M) and EverDye (€15M), both female co-founded companies in the Maki.vc portfolio.
Jobs & Talent
The portfolio continued to create jobs while attracting international talent. By the end of 2025, portfolio companies employed 1,897 full-time people, up from 1,781 the previous year. Teams represented an average of 8.4 nationalities per company, reflecting the global outlook of many early-stage businesses and their ability to attract talent from diverse backgrounds.
Responsible AI
This year’s report introduces Responsible AI for the first time, recognising the growing importance of developing AI systems that are trustworthy, secure, explainable, privacy-focused, fair, and accountable. While 21% of companies already have a Responsible AI policy in place, another 29% expect to introduce one within the next year, signalling that AI governance is becoming part of how startups scale responsibly.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is also a new reporting area in this year’s Sustainability Report and reflects its growing importance as startups scale. Today, 83% of portfolio companies have a cybersecurity policy in place, while 86% have GDPR-aligned privacy policies and another 10% plan to introduce cybersecurity policies over the coming year. Reported incidents remained limited, with six minor data breaches across two companies, all of which had been resolved by the time of reporting.
Maki.vc internal operations
We continue to integrate ESG considerations into our own operations and throughout the investment lifecycle, from initial screening and due diligence to ongoing portfolio support. In 2025, 44% of Maki employees and 25% of partners were female, while reduced business travel contributed to lower operational emissions compared with the previous year.
Looking ahead
This year’s report offers a snapshot of how sustainability is evolving within our portfolio and the broader startup ecosystem. Beyond traditional ESG metrics, founders are increasingly focused on Responsible AI, cybersecurity, and governance as core building blocks for resilient, long-term businesses. We expect these themes to become even more important as the next generation of startups scales.
As always, we’re grateful to every portfolio company that contributed to the survey and helped make this year’s report our most comprehensive to date.