Strengthening Europe’s Impact Investment Ecosystem: Capital, Knowledge and Partnerships

Key insights from LPsOnly Brussels | 10 November 2026

BLOG by Elemér Eszter, President of Impact CEE

How can Europe mobilise more long-term institutional capital to support innovation, competitiveness and measurable impact? And what will it take to build a stronger, more connected impact investment ecosystem across Europe?

These were the central questions at LPsOnly Brussels on 10 November, where investors, fund managers, institutional representatives and ecosystem builders came together for a morning of discussion, knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

Organised around three key themes — evidence of commercial growth, the mobilisation of European pension capital, and the importance of institutional cooperation — the event highlighted both the progress already made and the structural challenges that Europe must address.

Three important messages emerged: impact enterprises are demonstrating commercial potential, institutional capital needs appropriate mechanisms to participate, and lasting ecosystems are built through knowledge-sharing and trust.

# 1. CEE Impact Report 2026: Impact Enterprises Are Growing — Now the Challenge Is Scaling

Gergő Wieder, Director, and Szabolcs Mezei, Senior Consultant at KPMG Budapest, presented the findings of the ImpactCEE–KPMG CEE Impact Report 2026, providing valuable evidence on the development of impact enterprises, venture capital managers and institutional investors in Central and Eastern Europe.

Currently covering Austria, Croatia, Czechia and Hungary, the research reveals encouraging commercial momentum.

Participating impact enterprises achieved approximately 30% average annual revenue growth over the three-year reporting period, accompanied by growth in their reported impact indicators.

Importantly, the opportunities extend well beyond climate technology. Impact-driven businesses are increasingly active in healthcare, education, social inclusion, agriculture and sustainable consumption — demonstrating the breadth of market opportunities where commercial performance and measurable societal benefits can go hand in hand.

However, growth in revenue and impact is only part of the story. The next challenge is translating enterprise growth into sustained profitability and realised returns for investors.

The report also provides an overview of the regional investment landscape. Participating fund managers oversee approximately EUR 127.8 million in assets, with a median fund size of EUR 17 million.

To attract larger institutional investors, the ecosystem will need to develop larger and more diversified investment strategies, strengthen fund management teams and demonstrate a stronger track record of successful exits.

During the panel discussion, Gergő Wieder highlighted an especially interesting conclusion from the research: early-stage impact enterprises may offer a more favourable investment risk profile than their non-impact peers.

This is an important perspective for investors seeking both financial resilience and measurable impact.

ImpactCEE's next ambition is to broaden the research geographically and deepen its analysis of corporate relationships. We want to better understand how impact startups and scaleups become suppliers to established businesses, develop commercial partnerships and, ultimately, become acquisition targets.

Our goal is to build a reliable evidence base connecting impact enterprises, fund managers, limited partners (LPs) and corporate partners — helping the entire ecosystem make better-informed investment decisions.

CEE Impact Report: https://kpmg.com/hu/en/insights/2026/10/impact-cee.html

# 2. EPCMF: Unlocking European Pension Capital for Innovation and Competitiveness

The second session focused on the refreshed proposal, Mobilising European Pension Capital for Competitiveness and Impact: A European Pension Capital Mobilisation Facility (EPCMF).

The discussion took place at a particularly relevant moment for European capital markets. The European Parliament's reported decision not to support a proposal requiring EU-based pension funds to allocate at least 2% of their assets under management to venture capital has reinforced the need to explore alternative, market-based approaches.

The central challenge remains: Europe has ambitious innovation and competitiveness objectives, but too little of its long-term pension capital reaches European venture capital and impact investment.

The EPCMF proposal seeks to address this gap through a European Union guarantee providing partial downside protection at the European fund-of-funds level.

Rather than imposing mandatory investment quotas, the proposed facility aims to encourage voluntary pension fund allocations by addressing some of the risk concerns that currently limit institutional participation.

The ambition is twofold: to give European pension savers the opportunity to participate in the success of Europe's innovative companies, while helping channel more long-term capital into businesses that contribute to European GDP growth, competitiveness and measurable impact.

The workshop provided an opportunity to test and refine the proposal with market participants.

A central message emerged: any credible solution must be designed around the realities of pension investors. Strong governance, appropriate diversification, sound risk management and commercially viable investment strategies are essential.

At the same time, the facility must preserve investment discipline and ensure that public guarantees mobilise additional private capital rather than replace it.

ImpactCEE is now incorporating the feedback received into the proposal, alongside insights from its questionnaire-based outreach to 140 European pension funds.

Our ambition is to submit the refined initiative to the European Commission in November.

The EPCMF is not simply about increasing venture capital allocations. It is about developing a European financial architecture that connects long-term savings with long-term economic opportunities.

# 3. The European Investment Fund: Beyond Capital, Building an Ecosystem

A particularly inspiring contribution came from Kamil Pruchnik, Senior Regional Representative for Hungary and Poland at the European Investment Fund (EIF).

Reflecting on a decade of ecosystem development in Central and Eastern Europe, Kamil emphasised the EIF's role not only as a reliable financing partner but also as a catalyst for building investment ecosystems.

The EIF has consistently responded to emerging opportunities and challenges across Europe, helping develop market infrastructure, strengthen investment capabilities and connect different participants.

Looking ahead, initiatives such as the EPCMF could help unlock substantial additional private capital to complement the 2028–2035 EU budget.

The message was clear: cooperation between market participants and European institutions is essential. Well-developed market initiatives can give the European Commission confidence that mandates entrusted to the EIF will be implemented effectively and contribute to Europe's competitiveness.

But perhaps the most compelling illustration of the EIF's broader contribution came from the experiences shared by Renata Brkić and Elemér Eszter following the keynote.

Their story demonstrated how institutional support, knowledge-sharing and personal relationships can create a lasting impact far beyond individual investment transactions.

From inspiration to cooperation: a Central European impact investment story

As Elemér recalled:

"Our story began in 2015, when Charly Kleissner's presentation at CEE Impact Day in Vienna inspired me to pursue impact investing.

With generous guidance from European impact pioneers and nearly three years of intensive work with the EIF, our team established Impact Ventures 1 and 2 in December 2018.

Soon afterwards, Cyril Gouiffes encouraged us to pass on what we had learned to Renata Brkić, who was preparing Croatia's first impact fund.

We shared our experience, and Renata's team went on to establish Feelsgood Capital. That introduction grew into trust, shared investment opportunities and co-investments — helping build a cross-border impact ecosystem.

For us, this captures the EIF's contribution beyond financing: connecting people and helping knowledge become lasting cooperation.

Through Impact Ventures and ImpactCEE, we continue to carry that spirit forward."

This experience illustrates something fundamental about ecosystem development: successful investment initiatives rarely happen in isolation.

The knowledge accumulated by one team can become the foundation for another. An introduction can develop into a partnership, and a partnership can create investment opportunities across borders.

The EIF's contribution is therefore not measured solely by the capital it deploys, but also by the capabilities, relationships and institutional confidence it helps create.

# 4. From Regional Progress to European Competitiveness: What Comes Next?

The discussions at LPsOnly Brussels highlighted three interconnected priorities for Europe's impact investment ecosystem:

First, better evidence. Reliable data on enterprise performance, profitability, investment returns and measurable impact is essential to build institutional confidence and demonstrate that impact investing can be commercially attractive.

Second, better access to capital. Europe needs mechanisms that make venture capital and impact investment more accessible to long-term institutional investors, particularly pension funds. The EPCMF is one potential contribution to this objective.

Third, stronger cooperation. Financial resources alone cannot build a functioning ecosystem. Knowledge-sharing, institutional partnerships and cross-border collaboration are equally important in developing investment capabilities and creating opportunities.

These priorities reinforce one another. Stronger enterprises create better investment opportunities. Better investment structures attract more capital. And stronger partnerships enable successful models to spread across markets.

For ImpactCEE, this is precisely where our work continues: connecting enterprises, fund managers, institutional investors, policymakers and corporate partners to help turn Europe's impact investment potential into tangible economic and societal value.

Looking Ahead: Building Europe's Impact Investment Future Together

LPsOnly Brussels was more than an opportunity to exchange views. It was a reminder that Europe's competitiveness and innovation ambitions require a stronger connection between its long-term savings, entrepreneurial talent and investment ecosystem.

The CEE Impact Report provides evidence of commercial progress. The EPCMF seeks to address structural barriers to institutional investment. And the EIF's experience demonstrates how capital, expertise and cooperation can help build markets that would otherwise take much longer to develop.

None of these efforts can succeed in isolation.

We believe that mobilising institutional capital, strengthening investment capabilities and fostering cross-border cooperation are essential to building a more competitive, innovative and sustainable Europe.

Capital creates opportunities. Knowledge creates capabilities. Trust creates partnerships. And partnerships create lasting European competitiveness.

We thank all speakers, participants and partners who contributed to the discussions in Brussels. We look forward to continuing the conversation and working together to turn these ideas into practical initiatives.

Elemér Eszter

President, ImpactCEE