You’ve helped a founder refine their model. The impact case is strong. The mission resonates. But when it comes to raise capital, the conversation suddenly changes.
One investor asks about regulatory pathways in health. Another wants deeper climate data. A third asks how gender outcomes will actually be measured. What felt like a strong pitch suddenly becomes a very different conversation.
Across the Pollinate Impact network, this experience is becoming more common. As more investors specialise in particular sectors, their expectations around evidence, timelines, risk, and impact measurement begin to diverge. What works for one type of investor may fall flat with another.
The Funding Flora is where we begin to unpack these differences.
Sector-specialised investors are increasingly shaping the landscape of impact capital. Whether working in health, climate, or gender-lens investing, these investors often evaluate opportunities through very specific lenses – looking closely at evidence, sector dynamics, and the pathways to impact.
In this session, we’ll be joined by Andia Chakava from Graça Machel Trust, who works closely with founders and ecosystem builders supporting enterprises across these sectors.
What we’ll explore together
This is not a panel or presentation. It’s a two-way conversation structured around questions that continue to surface across the Network, including:
- How does sector specialisation change what investors look for in a startup?
- What sector-specific signals — or red flags — influence investment decisions?
- How should incubators adapt their support for founders working in different impact sectors?
- Where do sector-specialised investors see the biggest gaps in current pipelines?
Speakers will share what they are seeing from the investor side. Participants will bring what they are experiencing on the ground from the incubator side. Together, the session aims to surface practical insights that help incubators better support founders navigating sector-specific investment landscapes.
Who should join?
This session is open to all Pollinate Impact members and is particularly relevant for those working in:
- Leadership or partnership roles
- Fundraising support or investor relations
- Programme design, especially where founders are being prepared for sector-specific investment conversations
If you’re working with founders in health, climate, or gender-focused ventures – or supporting pipelines across multiple sectors – this conversation offers a chance to understand better how sector-specialised investors think.
About The Funding Flora
The Funding Flora is a series of grounded conversations between impact incubators and investors across the Global South. Each session focuses on a different type of capital and examines how funding decisions are made, where expectations misalign, and what stronger partnerships look like when both sides better understand each other’s realities.
Speaker
Andia Chakava — Graça Machel Trust
Facilitator
Ruod — Pollinate Impact
