Maze Impact, founded in 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal, emerged from the initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation to drive capital toward social and environmental improvement. Initially focused on experimentation, the organization played a strategic role in launching Portugal’s first social impact bonds and developing public initiatives like Portugal Inovação Social, a €150 million entity aimed at fostering social entrepreneurship.
Maze serves as a financial intermediary and operates along three primary service lines. The first is Mustard Seed Maze (MSM), a €45 million venture capital fund targeting early-stage impact startups. The second is Maze X, an accelerator program providing selected startups with €100,000 investments and hands-on support through a four-month program, helping founders prepare for initial fundraising. The third line, Maze Government Performance, offers advisory services to improve public sector impact and efficiency.
Maze’s portfolio includes ventures such as HypeLabs (US), Finds (UK), and AgroLeague (France), spanning themes from digital security to sustainable agriculture. The portfolio reflects a European orientation, with Maze supporting startups to scale beyond the Portuguese market. The organization counts between 11 and 50 employees and maintains close collaborations with partners like the European Venture Philanthropy Association and Social Finance UK.
Maze is recognized for pioneering transparent impact measurement, adopting impact-linked investment mechanisms, and advocating that measurable positive impact can generate competitive economic returns. Their most recent activities suggest an ongoing push to refine measurement approaches across all business lines while continuing to support startups addressing critical societal and environmental challenges.