Mastercard announces its Lighthouse MASSIV impact tech program’s fall class, with advisors from Swedbank, Danske Bank, and Nordic Impact Funds

Lighthouse MASSIV, Mastercard’s social impact partnership program dedicated to help one billion people live more prosperous and secure lives by 2025, is pleased to announce its fall class that will be supported by advisors from a.o. Swedbank, Danske Bank, Synch and Nordic Impact Funds.

Unlike traditional accelerators and corporate innovation programs, Lighthouse MASSIV is free and focused primarily on helping impact companies achieve their UN Sustainable Development Goals by finding partnerships and scaling globally. By connecting startups that have a high potential to improve the prosperity and security of the planet to large organizations for distribution and scaling, the program aims to achieve its mission of improving the lives of one billion people globally. With an improved impact measurement element for the startups in the program, Lighthouse MASSIV keeps track of achieving this mission.

The companies joining the program this fall have been chosen because of their desire and ability to scale sustainable partnerships. Mastercard, together with Invenio Growth, its partner in running Lighthouse, hopes to enhance these collaborations to achieve the vision of making the world a more prosperous and secure place.

Meet the fall class of Lighthouse MASSIV:  

imagiLabs – The Sweden-based Edtech startups targets the 300 million pre-teen girls globally to develop their coding skills with their product imagiCharm. imagiLabs is building tools to inspire, educate, and funnel the next generation of technologists.

“We’re very excited to leverage the knowledge and network provided by the Lighthouse MASSIV program and utilize partnerships to scale imagiLabs’ impact in inspiring girls to learn coding globally! Looking forward to work with Mastercard; a company already championing girls’ STEM education globally.” – Dora Palfi, CEO at imagiLabs

OTHALO – The Norway-based company is founded on the idea of using two global problems to solve each other; the problem of the worlds growing plastic waste situation and the worlds housing deficiency, especially in the growing economies of the world. OTHALO has a patented technology that allows for upcycling local plastic waste into our building system and build adequate and affordable housing locally, on an industrial scale.

“We are proud and humble to be amongst the selected few allowed to enter the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV program. We are looking forward to pursue partnerships for the future and to meet the gamechangers who are the resources behind and part of the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV program.” – Frank Cato Lahti, CEO at OTHALO

Skrym – The Sweden-based logtech startup provides a data-driven solution to eliminate unnecessary air in the transport of goods. By calculating optimal package sizes based on actual order history and automating the package choice in real-time, Skrym enables packing smaller, faster and more sustainably - without any need to invest in hardware.

“Mastercard is a world-leading brand with connections all over the world. This partnership program will help accelerate our impact to help reverse the climate crisis - which needs to happen as fast as possible” – Jakob Nordfeldt, CEO at Skrym

 Investure – The Sweden-based company is running a blockchain based platform where private market participants can run efficient end to end transactions. Investure has onboarded development finance institutions, investment banks, funds and important fundraisers onto a single private market platform that is designed to power a global primary and secondary market for sustainable development. The vision is to bridge the excessive funding gap in developing markets.

“We are very happy to add Mastercard to our allied organizations that fight to improve the way we fund sustainable development. To be selected for Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV is a privilege that we’ll use to accelerate our mission of bridging the $2,5 trillion SDG funding gap in developing markets.” – Joakim Blom, CEO at Investure

Gaia – The Denmark-based company offers an investing app for the conscious investor community. The app makes it easy to vote with your money by investing in companies that drive change towards a sustainable future. Investing is the first step, but Gaia’s mission is to offer a broad financial solution that ensures all parts of your financial needs, from debit cards to loans, are aligned with a sustainable future.

“Gaia's vision is to create a global financial system that aligns people, planet, and profit. Partnerships and co-creation will be key to realize it. For that reason, we're excited to join Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV to accelerate global access to financial products that are aligned with a sustainable future” – David Bentzon, CEO at Gaia

Since its launch at the end of 2019, the program featured companies like Desert Control, whose agritech nanoclay technology is one of the promising technologies turning deserts into fertile land. The program followed with winner PlasticFri, which offers plant-based and eco-friendly products for replacing fossil-based plastics, and Molecular Attraction, a company combatting vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue and zika. Our most recent program included SPENN, allowing people in developing countries to lend, spend and save money cost-free, and DDFinance, offering affordable health insurance to people living in the global south.

“We look forward to host our fourth MASSIV edition with once again a very exciting mix of companies that touch upon both social impact and sustainability. The program’s mission to help companies scale that are focused on doing good for the world, is getting closer to achievement because of the format of commitment and accountability. We help companies partner with a strong ecosystem of players and achieve impactful, accountability-driven results.” – Mats Taraldsson, Head of Innovation, Fintech and Impact-tech Engagement, Mastercard Nordics and Baltics

Advisory Board  

As part of the Lighthouse MASSIV program, companies receive feedback and support from advisory board members and experts with diverse and impressive backgrounds, such as the Walt Disney Company Nordics, Synch and Nordic Impact Funds. These board members represent sustainability experts, investors, and executives, each with their own global network: 

“I am truly impressed by the innovative partnerships built during the Lighthouses MASSIV program. These innovative and impactful solutions only become truly impactful when scaled up significantly. Many startups believe that they just need to raise more capital; but often designing and building the right partnerships could be the key to both scaling and capital”
– Lisbeth Zacho, Co-Founder and Partner at Nordic Impact Funds

“I’m excited to contribute to the Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV program once again and support Nordic impact entrepreneurs in making their businesses sustainable and scalable.”
– Lennaert Jonkers, CEO at DevelopMinded, Venture Partner at Social Impact Capital

Partner Banks

Mastercard collaborates with banking partners Swedbank and Danske Bank on the Lighthouse MASSIV initiative, all aiming at doing well by doing good on both sustainability and social impact:

“Mastercard Lighthouse MASSIV, a partnership platform where innovation and financial services join hands to accelerate the transition to create a sustainable society. From talking to doing.”
– Fredrik Nilzén, Head of Group Sustainability at Swedbank

“We at Danske Bank are excited to support start-ups aiming for scaling and doing good for the world – A program like MASSIV is a key driver in building and connecting with the right partners and ecosystems, and vital in bringing out the solutions and reaching the stars”
– Geetha Selvakumar, Chief Consultant Beyond Banking & ESG at Danske Bank