Accion, a Washington, D.C.-based financial inclusion focused nonprofit organization, expanded its seed-stage investment initiative Accion Venture Lab with the addition of $33M to its initial capital pool.
This included:
– the launch of a new $23M fund, and
– an additional, separate $10M investment from Accion.
The new fund brings together a group of third-party impact and commercial investors that share Venture Lab’s commitment to innovative fintech startups that leverage technology to increase the reach, quality, and affordability of financial services for the underserved at scale.
Investors in Accion Venture Lab now include:
– FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank;
– the Ford Foundation;
– the ImpactAssets Giving Fund of Blue Haven Initiative;
– Heifer Foundation;
– MetLife Foundation;
– Open Society Foundations;
– Pace Able Foundation;
– Proparco, the French Development Agency (AFD)’s private sector financing arm;
– Prudential Financial;
– Stichting Hivos-Triodos Fund, managed by Triodos Investment Management; and
– Visa Inc. (NYSE: V).
Launched in 2012 with $10m in capital and led by Managing Directors Tahira Dosani and Vikas Raj, Accion Venture Lab investes in companies in such sectors as insurtech, agricultural finance, digital lending, holistic MSME finance solutions, and personal financial management.
The initiative also partners with philanthropic organizations whose support enables it to provide specialized and extensive strategic and operational support to its portfolio companies and to invest at the higher-risk pre-seed stage in pursuit of its mission to reach the underserved.
Venture Lab will now invest an additional $33M –$10M from Accion and $23M from a coinvestment vehicle with third party funds, bringing Venture Lab’s total capital under management to $43M.
FinSMEs
04/09/2019