Non-profit group Accion International is boosting its investment initiative for seed stage fintech startups working on financial inclusion, raising $61.6 million from international investors.
Limited Partners in the fund include the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, Proparco, ImpactAssets, Ford Foundation, MetLife Asset Management and Mastercard Worldwide.
Supporting investments across Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the United States, Accion Ventures seeks out innovative tech companies that promote financial inclusion around the globe and have the potential to generate attractive returns.
The most recent initial investments by the new fund are PaidHR in Nigeria, Foyer in the United States, FinFra in Indonesia, and Flowcart in Kenya.
Since the investment strategy was established in 2012, Accion Ventures has deployed $59.4 million in 76 companies across 39 countries and had 13 exits across all geographies. The three most recent exits were Apollo Agriculture, a company providing tech-enabled inputs, financing, insurance, and training to smallholder farmers in Kenya and Zambia; Lula, an all digital small business lender and bank account provider for small and medium enterprises in South Africa; and Pula, a company providing agricultural insurtech solutions to smallholder farmers across Africa and Asia.
Michael Schlein, president and CEO of Accion says: “With the huge uptick in mobile technologies in emerging economies, we see a significant opportunity to connect many small businesses and low-income consumers to the digital economy for the first time. Leveraging third-party capital to deliver social and financial objectives is a critical part of Accion’s strategy. This fund seeks to support the growth of early-stage, disruptive companies providing high-quality, affordable financial services that can help reduce poverty and create opportunity for millions of people globally.”they scale.”