MakeSense
MakeSense is the impact-investment arm of a French nonprofit ecosystem, writing pre-seed and seed cheques into social and environmental startups, not a water specialist. Its handful of water-relevant bets reach it sideways, through agriculture and the circular economy. As of December 2025 it has raised a new €15M pre-seed fund, makesense Seed II.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
MakeSense began in 2010 as a movement rather than a fund: a few thousand French citizens who wanted to do something about social and environmental problems and ended up building incubators, accelerators and, eventually, money. The investment arm grew out of the community, not the other way round, and that order still shapes what it backs.
MakeSense invests the way an incubator would, small, early and hands-on. Its funds write pre-seed and seed cheques, roughly €100k to €600k, into startups solving concrete impact problems in agriculture and food, the circular economy, social inclusion, ageing and disability, and access to jobs and education. Impact is the entry ticket, not a marketing layer: a company that does not move a social or environmental needle does not get in, however good the growth curve.
MakeSense is not a water fund, and it reaches water sideways, through the two themes it cares about most: farming and circularity. Both of its water-relevant bets turn a waste stream or a scarce input into something a farmer can use. Toopi Organics collects human urine and converts it into agricultural biostimulants, a circular-nutrient play that stands in for mineral fertiliser; Telaqua wires farm irrigation with sensors so growers pour less water on the same crop. Two water companies, two deals, a quiet corner of a much larger impact portfolio rather than a strategy.
MakeSense is, as of December 2025, raising again: it has pulled together €15M for a new pre-seed fund, makesense Seed II, backed by the European Investment Fund, Mirova and Revital'Emploi, and is targeting at least €25M. The new fund leans into the circular economy and social inclusion, not water, and its first cheque went to a Dutch clothing-repair social enterprise. For a water founder the honest read is this: makesense is a door into impact capital that now and then opens onto water, not a fund that comes looking for it.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does MakeSense invest in?
- MakeSense backs early-stage impact startups, at pre-seed and seed, across agriculture and food, the circular economy, social inclusion, ageing and disability, and education and employment. It writes cheques of roughly €100k to €600k and is not a water specialist; (don't) Waste Water tracks two water-relevant holdings, Toopi Organics and Telaqua.
- Is MakeSense a water fund?
- No. MakeSense is a French impact investor whose mandate is broad social and environmental change, not water. Water reaches it through farming and the circular economy: Toopi Organics, which turns human urine into agricultural biostimulants, and Telaqua, a smart-irrigation startup. (don't) Waste Water rates its water commitment Occasional.
- Who runs MakeSense's investment funds?
- MakeSense's investment arm is led by Anne Gerset, co-founder and fund manager of makesense invest, who built its first pre-seed fund after two decades at the energy group ENGIE. Margaux Bussière is a principal across makesense's funds and the Racine² impact fund it co-manages with Serena Capital.
- Where is MakeSense based?
- MakeSense is headquartered in Paris, France, and was founded in 2010 as a nonprofit social-impact ecosystem before it added investment funds. Its investment activities run to more than €100M under management and back around 40 impact ventures, with cheques concentrated in France and Europe.
- Is the MakeSense impact fund the same as the makesense nonprofit?
- They are one organisation seen from two angles. MakeSense is a French nonprofit impact ecosystem of incubators and accelerators founded in 2010; its investment arm runs the makesense Seed funds and the Racine² fund with Serena Capital. It is unrelated to similarly named software products that share the name.