100x invites applications to the next cohort of future social unicorns
Howard Lake | 3 November 2025 | News
Global impact initiative 100x is looking for the next generation of ‘social unicorns’ – organisations affecting positive change on the scale of billions – and is inviting applications for its 2026/27 cohort.
The social accelerator is looking for “radical thinkers, the visionaries and the entrepreneurs who crave a new, better world”. It uses the term ‘unicorn‘, which means a privately held startup company valued at over $1 billion, but it adds the different focus of “massive social impact”.
Specifically it is looking for people running or building a social venture that is driving change in one or more of the following areas:
🌍 Climate and Environment
🗳️ Democracy
📚 Education
💲 Inequality
😇 Happiness and Wellbeing
🩺Health and Social Care
👩🏻🔬 Tech for Impact
🏠 Refugees and Cohesion
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Applicants can be “registered and/or operating from anywhere in the world”.
100x is based at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Over the past three years, it has built a portfolio of 35 ventures that are already reaching a combined 100 million lives, tackling systemic issues across the globe.
100x explains its operating approach: “We reveal groundbreaking ways to amplify your impact – not through endless fundraising – but through tangible, results-driven models like government adoption, digitisation and open source solutions”.
If you’re not sure if you are the right fit, explore past members of the cohort.
******************************@**.png” alt=”Our role is to back extraordinary founders with the funding, networks and expertise they need to realise their boldest ambitions". Quote from Fan Gu, Deputy Director & Head of Impact Investment.” class=”wp-image-336848″/>Social ventures chosen for the 2026/27 cohort will receive £150,000 unrestricted grant funding with a chance to access further catalytic capital after the programme. Ventures will also leverage 100x’s bespoke accelerator programme and LSE’s world-class insights and expertise to scale their impact.
100x aims to support up to 16 social ventures every year, with 70% of these coming from emerging markets. The 2026/27 cohort will be split into two programmes: the Autumn programme, starting in September 2026, and the Spring programme, starting in February 2027.
Applications to the next 100x cohort close on 10 November 2025.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.