At Nesta Impact Investments we are very excited this week to be announcing the first four investments made from our social impact fund.

Our fund is all about investing in talented entrepreneurs with a vision to make a real and lasting difference to society. We are proud to be building an interesting portfolio of organisations tackling issues such as elderly care, poor educational standards and financial exclusion.

So here they are:

• Oomph! – an award winning social enterprise improving the health and quality of life of older adults in care homes through innovative group exercise classes, such as ‘chair cheerleading’
• Ffrees Family Finance – a unique type of current account that helps families to save as they spend
• Movellas - a new online story sharing community aimed at improving literacy skills amongst teenagers
• Sherston Software – a company developing innovative educational software designed to motivate children and boost their educational performance

It’s been an exciting year for us and for the wider impact investment market. Just over a year ago we brought together a really valuable group of social investors in Nesta, Big Society Capital and Omidyar Network – investors that are committed to building a vibrant social investment market in the UK. We are seeing signs that there is a growing ecosystem to support social ventures, set to receive a further boost in April when a new tax relief for social enterprises comes into force.

We are also seeing a wave of interesting and talented entrepreneurs using their knowledge and skills to try to tackle some of the big social challenges we, as a society, face – the deals we are announcing today are great examples of this.

This is only the start of what promises to be a very interesting 2014 for us and for the social investment market.