Social Finance Q&A

1. Did you define a strategy how to build good relations with your investors?

We are currently discussing and drafting an investor relations strategy within our team. No, I will think about this later. We're almost there and are now finalizing suitable investor relations tools and processes. I am aware that this is an important issue and have begun to inform myself about the options that we have. Yes, our investor relations strategy is complete with all necessary tools, processes, timetables and responsibilities.

2. Are you sufficiently familiar with the individual information needs of each of your investors?

I have some ideas, but need to speak with each investor first to better understand what they need. Absolutely. We are completely prepared to answer all ongoing information and meeting requests and to enter into a beneficial and reliable communication. No, everyone will simply get the same information and attention. Partially. Me and my team spoke with most of our investors but we need to address the others yet before defining the right approach. Yes, we checked this issue with all of our investors and are now defining how to best deal with various information needs.

3. Do you know how to make best use of the value add that your investors can offer to your enterprise?

Sure, this is exactly why we chose these investors. We are happy to actively seek and receive industry expertise and strategic insights, introductions to potential partners and customers and other kinds of valuable support. There are a few issues that I already thought about discussing with some of them. No, I'm quite happy that I have the money and can focus on my work now. Yes, I'm certainly interested in exchanging ideas and strategic options with (some of) them on a regular basis. Yes, we already receive this kind of support and know exactly which on-financial value each of our investors is willing and able to contribute.

1. To which extent do you monitor the impact that your enterprise achieves?

Not at all. Currently, we have no impact monitoring or reporting system in place, but we collect some data sporadically. Somewhat. We track several impact-related metrics and use them when we are fundraising. We have established a system for measuring and managing our impact and also produce an annual impact report. We have defined a basic concept for measuring and monitoring our impact but we do not systematically collect data or report them to investors yet. Fully. Out IMM system is installed and impact metrics are tracked continuously. We use them in the day-to-day management to improve our product/service and also report them annually to our investors and other stakeholders.

2.How evolved is your financial modeling?

What is this exactly?. Before raising investment, we already prepared our income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, but our forecast capabilities are not yet evolved enough for the stage we're in. Our financial model is up-to-date and complete. We can show our forecast to our team and investors anytime and discuss potential scenarios and sensitivities with them. We just hired a finance expert who will set this up professionally. To a large extent. Our financial model is fleshed out and we are able to perform a sensitivity analysis for various scenarios and assumptions. But as our recent growth is strong (and we launched more products or regions), we need to update it.

3. Have you installed an integrated management information system (MIS) to help you guide your enterprise?

We have installed something that's easier and less expensive to at least support the management's decision-making with our current limited resources. No, what is this MIS all about? We have started to look into this to prepare for the next stage of growth. Absolutely. We have installed a comprehensive MIS that includes all major elements such as customer relationship management, supply chain management, and enterprise resource planning, which allows us to manage the enterprise and monitor our performance efficiently. Yes. We have decided to make the investment into an MIS and started to integrate it with our existing systems as well as train our employees.

1. How deep is your understanding of how much you, your team and your investors are really aligned in terms of your enterprise's mission?

I have the impression we're all on the same wavelength. I don't know. Time will tell. Our team is aligned and we're on track mission-wise, but there is tension with some investor(s) about strategic options and which ones we should choose going ahead. There is tension sometimes, but we have regular discussions in the team to make sure that we still share the same goals and continue to move towards our shared mission. We continue to be fully mission-aligned as a team, which we regularly discuss and check. We are also up-to-date on the priorities of our investors and so far always reached good alignment due to the excellent communication we have established with them. We also took precautions before signing the last financing round by aligning with our investors on essential issues such as preferred exit scenarios and growth strategies.

2. Did you take precautions for a potential mission drift before you chose your investors?

Yes, we informed ourselves about suitable governance mechanisms, integrated some of them, and made sure to have several investors aboard to avoid being too financially dependent. No, I urgently needed the money and there was no room to address this issue. To some extent. We discussed our vision and mission with our shortlisted investors and made sure to sign only with those who broadly share it. Yes, we carefully chose the legal structure of our impact enterprise, incorporated legal standards that allow preserving the mission (to the extent possible) and set up a well-balanced board of directors. I was aware of the topic but we didn't take precautions.

3. Do you have a strategy how to deal with market changes that may challenge your business and mission?

We have defined some guidelines that differentiate between changes that directly affect our impact and business model and other types of challenges that are less critical to our mission. No, I will decide once such a situation arises. Yes, we are 100% clear about how to deal with different market changes that may require us to pivot and risk taking us away from our mission. We have thought about possible scenarios in our team and defined our common priorities. I am fully aware that this might happen, but will always make sure that the mission prevails.

1. Are you sufficiently aware of your future financing needs to implement your growth and scaling plan?

Vaguely, but our scaling path is volatile and not clear enough yet. We have full transparency on our financing needs and already discussed potential pathways with our existing investors. Somewhat. We started to calculate different scenarios and the resulting financing needs. No, I'm sure the latest financing will support us for at least another 3-6 years. Mostly. We know the amounts of financing required in various scenarios and plan to address the issue in a timely manner by discussing our options within our team.

2. Do you know if your current investors have the capacity and willingsness to continue funding your enterprise?

Completely. We know about those who are ready to join the next round and we will start early enough to approach them as well as secure new investors so as not to run out of cash. No, I have no idea. Somewhat. One or two of them dropped some remarks when we spoke a while ago. There is sufficient capacity to support us, but it's still early and therefore unclear if all of them will finally commit to investing again. We discussed this issue with some investors in the course of updating them on the enterprise's progress.

3. How do you (intend to) approach your investors and secure their continued support?

We sat down with our team to identify the features that we need from investors for our next scaling step. As a consequence, we will make an early and targeted approach to each investor and are prepared that some may not be the right ones to follow us in the next round. We started to discuss our scaling options with some of our key investors to create traction and receive early signals of financial support. We will approach them once the money runs out. We actively communicate with our existing investors about this, especially with those that would be a great fit in the future. We are very realistic about the time and risks associated with fundraising and also started to build new relations with investors that could provide a crucial value add to our next phase of scaling and growth. Our enterprise is on track and performing well, so I'm sure they will quickly commit again.

1. To which extent have you discussed different exit strategies and preferences with your investors?

Not at all. We have discussed exit strategies with some key investor(s) before the investment. We have co-developed an exit plan with our key investor(s) and defined common growth and scaling goals. We're fully synchronized with all of our investors regarding our preferred exit plan and our enterprise is on track to fulfil the relevant milestones. This is not relevant, since we only received loans, grants and/or self-liquidating financing instruments.

2. ) Did you think about the effects on your enterprise's impact if some or the entire group of owners/shareholders were to sell their shares?

We will discuss this if and when the situation comes up. We already discussed this issue among the owners/shareholders. Yes, we sought external (legal) advice and already decided on legal clauses to deal with such situations to ensure the best possible mission preservation. We're aware of this possibility and currently decide on appropriate measures to ensure mission alignment even beyond some shareholders leaving. No, I don't expect this to happen at all.

3. If applicable: Do you know about the options you have to ensure a responsible exit?

No, what is this?. No, but I'm in the process of getting information. Yes, absolutely. We're already in discussions with a responsible buyer and will include further clauses in the agreements if negotiations are successful. We are aware that this is an issue because it is likely that our enterprise will need a strong strategic buyer or partner to be able to scale massively and reach a vast number of clients and beneficiaries. Yes, we have defined preferences for such an exit and will pursue it when our enterprise is ready for it.

Investor Relations