Current state and latest development of social venture capital in Europe

Abstract

Abstract The article aims at providing characterisation of social venture capital in Europe. The introductory part of the contribution deals with its origins and classification. The attention is devoted to various factors that have led to emergence of SVC such as existence of market gap, global crisis, monetary policy, disintermediation and financial innovations. The article also emphasises the fact that there is no unified market and, moreover, that the boundaries between social institution and traditional investors are becoming blurry. The main contribution of this article is to characterise the current state and to describe the latest development of SVC in Europe. The focus of analysis was aimed at defining the investment focus, priorities and resources of SVC. Western Europe is the main target region of SVC during all examined period, followed by Africa and Asia. In all years, top financial beneficiaries are people suffering from poverty followed by children and youth. Amongst the top five targeted beneficiaries are also people with disabilities, unemployed people and women. Whilst trend in geographical focus and financial beneficiaries is stable, focus in investment sector changes over time. Financial inclusion alongside with economic and social development currently represents top sectors that attract more than half of total investments in 2017–2018. At the same time, SVC is becoming more attractive to investors in Europe what confirms the fact that the number of organisation is rising alongside with their budgets.