Aurum Impact was launched in 2023 by brothers Jan-Hendrik and Jörg-Uwe Goldbeck, who run a successful family-owned construction company in Germany, as well as a solar company they spun out. Aurum invests the brothers’ money in startups working to create systemic change via sustainable materials, climate and energy, natural ecosystems, and education, housing and other solutions that support social stability.
The family office fund also invests up to $10 million a pop in funds, which have included Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Counteract, a UK-based VC firm that invests in carbon removal solutions, and European funds Planet A, SYSTEMIQ, Revent and Slate.
There’s a bigger mission at play, though: to encourage “more family offices to become more active in impact investing, in thinking about how they can create value with the wealth that they have,” says Miki Yokoyama, who co-founded and manages the fund.
Next generation family members, in particular, she says, are “very interested in doing things differently and creating positive impact in the society somehow.” But they often don’t know where to start.
Aurum aims to be a resource for helping them get started, structure their strategies, and bring along other family members. The fund has gathered family members in Germany and Europe to help share ideas and strategies, especially given the more private and publicity-shy nature of many German and European families.
“It’s nice that we do it as one family with the wealth that the Goldbeck family has, but we have so many more wealthy families,” she says. “Every one of us needs to become active to also see that we protect nature, that we create a future in which next generations really want to live.”
