A new initiative aiming to reshape access to venture capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs was unveiled on Friday at the Start Summit, as the Global Inclusive Founders Fund (GIFF) officially launched alongside its associated foundation.
Backed by Swiss national councillor and former entrepreneur Islam Alijaj, serial entrepreneur and investor Hermann Arnold, and Louise Maunoir, the initiative introduces a dual structure designed to identify, support, and ultimately invest in high-potential founders who have navigated systemic barriers, including disability, neurodivergence, or chronic conditions.
Among those already involved are Daniel Gutenberg, Joachim Schoss, Urs Wietlisbach, Bettina Hein, Nicole Herzog, Islam Alijaj, and Hermann Arnold.
At this stage, the team is not disclosing the size of the fund, emphasising instead that they “believe deal access is more critical than fund size at this stage – and that’s exactly what we’re building through our Investment Circle.” The ambition is to close first deals in Q2 2026, with a growing pipeline already spanning ecosystems such as London, San Francisco, and Munich.
The foundation focuses on early-stage intervention – identifying promising founders, supporting them into accelerator programmes, and ensuring inclusion becomes part of innovation pipelines. Meanwhile, the fund itself will invest in high-growth, venture-scale companies, deliberately avoiding traditional ‘impact-only’ positioning in favour of a returns-driven thesis centred on overlooked talent.
Against this backdrop, we spoke with Hermann Arnold about the thinking behind GIFF, its structure, and its long-term ambition.
The GIFF introduces a dual structure combining a foundation and an investment vehicle. What gap in the current venture ecosystem are you trying to address with this model, and why did you decide to build both components in parallel?
The biggest gap is not funding – it’s perception. Many people with disabilities don’t even see entrepreneurship as a path for themselves. It’s not visible, not encouraged, and often not part of the environment they grow up in.
The foundation is there to create that visibility: role models, access, first steps, ecosystem. So people start to see themselves as founders. The fund comes in once that happens – backing the best of them with a clear, return-driven mindset. Both need to be built in parallel. Without role models, there is no pipeline. Without capital, there is no signal that this is real.
The fund focuses on founders who have navigated systemic barriers such as disability or neurodivergence. From an investor’s perspective, how do these lived experiences translate into a competitive advantage when building venture-scale companies?
These founders have been operating in non-ideal conditions from day one. That builds three things you cannot train easily: extreme resilience, unconventional problem-solving, and the ability to navigate systems that don’t work for you. In venture terms, that’s a very strong founder-market fit for building in complexity.
On top of that, they often see markets others overlook – either because they experienced the problem themselves or because they are used to thinking outside standard assumptions.
How actively involved will the investors be in sourcing, evaluating, and supporting portfolio companies?
Very active – by design. We are building an Investment Circle of experienced entrepreneurs and operators, not just capital providers. Many of them will be directly involved in sourcing and evaluating deals, and even more importantly, in supporting companies post-investment.
This is less a classic LP structure and more a founder-backed network – similar to what worked well at b2venture, but applied to a new segment.
Giff explicitly states it will not invest in social enterprises, but rather in high-growth, venture-scale startups. How do you ensure that the inclusion focus remains central while still maintaining a strong commercial and return-driven investment thesis?
By separating who we invest in from why we invest. We invest in companies because they can become category leaders – not because they are inclusive. That discipline is critical.
The inclusion focus sits at the founder level, not at the business model level. And in many cases, it strengthens the business case: these founders often build for underserved markets, attract strong teams, and create very loyal customer bases.
At the same time, our Investment Committee includes successful entrepreneurs who have faced these challenges themselves. They know what great looks like – and they invest with that standard, not out of pity.
You aim to close the first deals in Q2 2026 and are already building a pan-European pipeline. What types of startups or sectors are you currently seeing the most traction in, and what will define a “Giff-backed” company in practice? Are there any companies already in the portfolio that you can share?
We are deliberately not focused on “disability-driven” sectors. In fact, we actively look for companies that are not pushed into that corner. What we see is strong traction in areas like AI, e.g. solutions improving the backoffice of SMEs, as well as broader B2B software and platform plays.
A “Giff-backed” company typically combines: a founder with an unusual trajectory and strong resilience; a product solving a real, scalable problem; and clear potential to build a venture-scale business
We are currently working to source our first deals and hope to be able to announce initial investments in the coming months.
Why is Islam Alijaj important to GIFF and its formation?
Islam’s journey is the thesis in real life. He went from being underestimated in the education system to building a company, exiting it, and becoming one of the most visible political figures in Switzerland – all without the support structures that others take for granted.
For us, he represents what happens when talent meets determination – but also how inefficient the system still is, because his path was much harder than it needed to be.
Giff is about making journeys like his the rule, not the exception.
[End of interview]
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/03/vcs-blind-spot-an-interview-with-global-inclusive-founders-fund-giff-on-backing-europes-overlooked-founders/
