Willemijn Verloop and Machtelt Groothuis, Netherland-based Rubio Impact Ventures founding partners, prove that profit and purpose can coexist and thrive in venture capital. Driven by a shared belief that businesses can generate strong financial returns while making a social impact, they built a VC firm that invests in companies tackling critical climate, health, education, and food security challenges. Impact investing is a $5 trillion investing opportunity.
But their journey hasn’t been without obstacles. Verloop and Groothuis have consistently defied expectations and paved the way for a new generation of impact-driven investors and social enterprises, from proving the viability of impact investing to building a diverse team in a male-dominated industry.
Rubio Impact Ventures: Bridging Social Impact And Financial Returns
Verloop founded War Child, an NGO that assists children affected by war. “I really felt there was something essentially wrong for me with the NGO model, where your final beneficiary doesn’t pay, and that doesn’t infuse innovation in creating a lot of new solutions,” said Verloop. After leaving War Child, she created the Social Enterprise NL to support and help grow the social enterprise movement in the Netherlands.
Groothuis worked for McKinsey and then for two private equity (PE) firms before co-founding Rubio with Verloop. “It really started to bother me that it [PE] was so one-dimensional, just about making money, and I thought there was a huge missed opportunity,” Groothuis said. She wanted to use her PE skills to make a positive impact.
In 2012, the pair were introduced to each other by someone at McKinsey who had worked with both of them. Their backgrounds complement each other, creating a unique combination of social impact and investment expertise.
Verloop and Groothuis saw an opportunity in the market for a VC firm focused on investing in companies that positively impacted the world. They believed there was a lack of capital available for these types of companies and wanted to change that.
Rubio Impact Ventures is focused on investing in companies working on climate, health, education, food, and agricultural solutions that improve the lives of people or the planet and generate a financial return. It’s also about diversity in backgrounds and experiences and building a diverse team. Team diversity improves performance. They started raising in 2014 and had their first close in 2015.
“In Rubio, we found a partner with the rare combination of strong commercial and strategic proficiency and a deeply held conviction that a social mission and top venture returns reinforce each other,” wrote Lukas Grosfeld and Yorick Bruins, founders of Wakuli in an email. “Besides helping us define our impact metrics, the Rubio team became a strategic sparring partner from day 1, actively helping us to reach our goal of connecting 1 million households and 50,000 farmers by 2025.”
Rubio’s first fund was €40 million, and their second was €110 million. They are currently raising their third fund. Their first limited partners included family offices, followed by the European Investment Fund and other institutional investors.
“Since the early days, Rubio has been a pioneer with a strong vision for impact investing and driving change,” explained Jolanda Degen, entrepreneur, investor, and impact and Rubio advisory board member. “They didn’t just set the standard—they created it, inspiring others and convincing institutional investors to enter this space.”
The firm has evolved by becoming more specialized in its investment focus. They have also developed a strong track record of investing in successful companies.
Impact Investing: Defying Skepticism And Building A Diverse Team
Growing Rubio into a trailblazer in venture capital required Verloop and Groothuis to navigate significant obstacles, but their determination and innovative approaches have turned challenges into success stories.
One of the early hurdles Rubio faced was proving the alignment between social impact and financial returns. When the firm launched in 2014, many doubted that businesses focused on societal or environmental impact could scale and generate substantial profits.
“The biggest barrier was to prove these entrepreneurs are out there and that we can measure their impact in a way that benefits both the entrepreneurs and the broader ecosystem,” Verloop said. Rubio tackled this skepticism head-on by developing a rigorous impact measurement methodology, co-created with the European Investment Fund. Their system set ambitious, independently validated targets for each investment, ensuring accountability without overwhelming entrepreneurs. This approach not only reassured investors but also positioned Rubio as a leader in impact investing methodology.
Times are changing, according to Beyond returns: Venture and Growth Investing Fueling Sustainability and Societal Change a report by European women in VC. European positive impact-driven startups are attracting record VC funding, fueled by LPs’ desire for environmental impact and VCs prioritizing ESG performance.
Another significant challenge was the lack of female talent applying for roles within the firm. “I remember posting on LinkedIn, ‘Girls, where are you?’ because 90% of applicants for analyst positions were male,” Verloop recalled. To address this, Rubio invested in education and outreach. An early team member began teaching university classes about VC and impact investing, inspiring more young women to consider careers in the field. Over time, these efforts paid off, with talented women joining Rubio’s ranks, contributing to its reputation as a gender-diverse and impact-driven venture firm.
Rubio’s innovative approach to aligning financial and impact goals has made it a pioneer in the venture capital industry. Distributing the firm’s carried interest (similar to a bonus) is contingent on achieving both financial returns and impact targets. “It’s binary,” Groothuis explained. “If we miss either the financial or impact goals, the carry goes to charity. This keeps our team fully aligned with the dual mission.”
Verloop and Groothuis have scaled Rubio by overcoming these obstacles and demonstrated that venture capital can make a social impact without sacrificing financial returns.
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