08:30 - 19:00
Starting at 8:30 AM, 18 corporate teams met with 29 CEOs of impact start-ups. A total of 72 “speed meetings” were held, thanks to the support of the European Commission through the Buy Social Europe B2B program. These meetings aimed to foster innovative partnerships between large corporations and impact-driven enterprises.
The participating impact start-ups are laureates of the IMPACT 40/120 Index, a new benchmark that highlights future social and environmental unicorns. Launched at ChangeNOW in early 2024, the first edition of the IMPACT 40/120 Index shone a spotlight on the most mature impact companies in the ecosystem. Selection was based on innovation, scalability, and—most importantly—impact. Indeed, the success of these impact-driven companies cannot be measured by financial valuation or fundraising alone; it must also reflect the positive impact generated by their core business. An impact unicorn is defined as a company generating over €50 million in societal cost savings. Among the laureates present were start-ups such as La Vie, Cool Roof, InnovaYa, and Ekwateur.
"It’s a golden opportunity to present your product directly to decision-makers in major corporations and have frank discussions about whether it's a relevant fit for them or not," said Guillaume d’Ayguesvives, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of moka.care.
A mapping of impact start-ups, carried out at the end of 2023 by Mouvement Impact France, Bpifrance Le Hub, and France Digitale, revealed that their top three priorities are:
Building commercial partnerships (25%)
Expanding within France (18%)
Expanding internationally (18%)
This event directly responds to the first priority: connecting impact start-ups with large corporations to foster business relationships. Corporate participants included teams from procurement, innovation, CSR, and HR—ready to redirect their purchasing and strategic approaches. Among the companies present were Accor, L’Oréal, Suez, and LCL.
“This start-up – corporate meeting gave me the opportunity to meet four companies carefully selected by Impact France, all with clear partnership potential,” noted Roseline Klein, International Development Manager at Suez.
Following these high-quality meetings, impact start-ups and major corporations are continuing discussions to build innovative partnerships—helping impact enterprises structure and scale even further.