Funding the Future with Integral Investing

How can purpose-driven founders and investors work together to build the solutions our economy urgently needs?

Many startups are building solutions that target the root causes of today’s biggest challenges. But purpose-driven angel investors still have to evaluate each team individually, making it hard to fund impact at scale.

In this episode, Tina Dreimann, founder of better ventures, explains how her network connects founders and investors to systematically change our economy towards impact and return. Tina also points out the principle of integral investing, where revenue and impact grow together. She shares how startups and established companies can form a symbiosis: combining entrepreneurial startup speed with corporate scale to shift entire value chains. Tina also advises founders to prioritise team strength and early customer validation.

This episode is part of VC for Circularity - the Venture Capital Perspective on Circular Economy Startups.

People Tina Dreimann, Founder at better ventures https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-dreimann/

Patrick Hypscher, Circular Business Strategist, PaaS Expert https://www.linkedin.com/in/hypscher/

Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:52 Why Tina Founded better ventures 04:58 What is better ventures? 07:05 Angel Network at better ventures 08:01 What Are The Benefits For Founders Working With better ventures? 09:44 Understanding and Assessing Impact at better ventures 14:09 Integral Investing: Correlation Between Investment Capital and Impact 19:43 Spotting Impact Potential Patterns in Circular Business Models 22:19 Selection Processes for Founder Teams and Business Angels 24:26 Impact Investors and Angels as Responsible Leaders 31:44 Tips for Circular Founders 33:03 Trends for Circular Businesses in The Next Three Years 33:48 What Kind of People Should Reach Out to better ventures?

About better ventures is a German network of entrepreneurial business angels who back early-stage, purpose-driven startups across Europe. They support impact-driven companies that address pressing social and ecological challenges by providing not only capital but also time, expertise, and access to their extensive networks. better ventures prioritizes a founder-friendly approach that emphasizes long-term success and founder control rather than short-term financial gains.

Their investments focus on startups creating positive impact in areas such as climate, ecosystems, resources, new work, education, and health, working closely with founders as partners and sparring partners to help build sustainable, impactful ventures.

Further Links Portfolio companies:

everdrop: https://www.everdrop.de Oxyle: https://oxyle.com ecoLocked: https://www.ecolocked.com BIOWORKS: https://www.bioworks-gmbh.de/en/home.html

Book recommendation: Integral Investing: From Profit to Prosperity by Dr. Mariana Bozesan

Report Circular Republic: https://www.circular-republic.org/startup-landscape-2025

WEPA’s episode: https://circularity.fm/family-business-transform-towards-circular-value-creation-by-carl-luis-rieger-wepa-circulaze-summit/

One-page Summary Sign-up for the Circularity.fm Newsletter and get a summary with the take-aways of this episode. Register here: https://circularity.fm/how-purpose-driven-investors-and-impact-founders-accelerate-systemic-change-with-tina-dreimann-from-better-ventures/