Accion Venture Lab

If you're at #SOCAP24 today, we hope to see you at the Impact Innovators Happy Hour! Accion Venture Lab is co-hosting this annual convening with ResilienceVC, Blue Haven Initiative, Mercy Corps Ventures, Open Road, and UpMetrics on Tuesday, the 29th, at 5:00 PM. Our team members -- Matt Schaar, Katie Hallaran, and Semra Ezedin, will be on-site to welcome you for an evening of connecting with impact innovators and sharing ideas through meaningful conversations! ✨

We're proud to welcome Finfra, an Indonesia-based lending infrastructure provider, to our portfolio! Finfra is advancing financial inclusion in Southeast Asia’s largest economy with a full-stack solution to enable platforms to develop, launch, and scale their financial products and services. #EmbeddedFinance and #EmbeddedLending have always been a core thesis for Accion Venture Lab, and we are excited about how Finfra can unlock this for the platforms and millions of SMEs in the country. Finfra recently raised a $2.5 million funding round from Cento Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, ZVC, and existing investors. The company also announced a major partnership with Tyme to help them expand their work in Indonesia. Congratulations on these milestones, Markus Prommik, Reinis Simanovskis, and the entire Finfra team. We're excited to be on this journey with you! Rahil Rangwala, Paolo Limcaoco Read more: https://lnkd.in/dFcVZvJ4

Here’s a quick look back at an insightful discussion at fintech_devcon*, where our Operating Partner, Matt Schaar and Santiago Aceves, CEO of Moffin, explored the critical issue of financial exclusion. It affects over 2 billion individuals and has created a $5 trillion credit gap for small businesses. *fintech_devcon is a conference for fintech developers and builders designed to unlock knowledge and bring about the next decade of financial innovation. To listen to the full conversation, check out the recording here:  https://lnkd.in/dPQyKJmH

Access to financial services isn't the ultimate goal — it's a means to an end. Thanks to Financial Times's Moral Money newsletter and Simon Mundy for highlighting three of our portfolio companies on the innovative ways they've extended credit to enable growth and resilience among small businesses in Mexico, Kenya, Zambia, and Indonesia. Hugo Garduño Ortega of Verqor, Benjamin Njenga of Apollo Agriculture, Fajar Adiwidodo of bababos Check the article here: https://lnkd.in/duJNsBWE

Amazing news from SUKHIBA as they expand in South Africa through a partnership with Peach Payments. Sukhiba's conversational commerce platform enables MSMEs to access a range of relevant payment and commerce solutions, all via the convenience of WhatsApp. Congratulations, Ananth Gudipati, and the entire Sukhiba team!

Our Sebastian Molina Gasman, CFA, Principal in Latam, will speak at #FinclusionWeek 2024! Join us and the global inclusive finance community for the 10th anniversary of the leading industry event for sharing insights on #financialinclusion. Registration is open, and there is free access for all at https://lnkd.in/eHE2kdCT (a virtual convening). #FIW24 is convened by the Center for Financial Inclusion (CFI)

This year's Fintech for Inclusion Global Summit 2024, supported by Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and FMO - Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, brought together over 270 founders, investors, and practitioners in inclusive fintech who are making an impactful change globally. A distinct feature of this edition of the Summit was the breakout workshops. The workshops engaged the attendees, the experts, and the founders in spirited discussions around the four key themes - Fintech in Commerce, Fintech in SaaS, Fintech Infrastructure, and AI in Fintech. The fireside chats and a panel discussion were recorded and will soon be released on Accion's YouTube channel. For now, we'd like to offer you to feel the vibe of the event in our recap video from #FIGS2024:

We're excited to share that Pratiti Dasgupta has joined our team as an Operations Analyst! In her role, Pratiti will provide fund operations, fundraising, and business development support and manage relationships between internal and external stakeholders. Before joining us, Pratiti worked as a Research Analyst with National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL), India's sovereign-anchored alternative asset manager, in the investor relations and Macro Research vertical. She also has experience as an operator at various venture-backed high-growth startups. Welcome, Pratiti! It's great to have you join us!

We're excited to announce that Diego Torres has joined our team as a Portfolio and Investments Associate! In his role, Diego will work across our investment and strategic portfolio support functions and marshal our investment work in the MENAP region. He joins us from Angeles Ventures, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, and Goldman Sachs. Welcome, Diego! We’re thrilled to have you here with us!

We're proud to share that Thomas Njeru, CEO of PULA, has been recognized on the TIME100 Next list of emerging global leaders shaping the future. Pula is harnessing cutting-edge technology to redefine agricultural insurance, working to build climate resilience for 15 million smallholder farmers and securing $2.22 billion in agricultural investments across 19 countries. We are happy to be on this journey with the PULA team as they continue their mission to impact 100 million farmers and create a more sustainable and resilient future for agriculture. Congratulations to Thomas and the entire Pula team on this recognition: https://lnkd.in/gtJgUD8q #AgricultureInnovation #ClimateResilience #SmallholderFarmers