A Common Problem
Early-stage social enterprises face common challenges to growth and reaching their full financial and impact potential.
These challenges are amplified when seeking to deliver products and services to the base of the pyramid (BoP) in the world’s most challenging developing markets.
- Few impact investors are willing to invest in early stage startups focused on the poor, creating a “pioneer gap” in funding for social enterprises pioneering new models of inclusive business.
- Beyond investment capital, startups lack the distribution networks, consumer trust, and local know-how needed to take smart, informed risks and successfully deliver innovative solutions that combat poverty.
- Even with the right investment and technical support, early stage startups struggle to provide end-user financing solutions to make their products and services truly affordable to the BoP.
Combined, these barriers hinder the proliferation of affordable and quality products and services in under- and un-served markets.
A Powerful Solution
FINCA Ventures leverages a global microfinance network to catalyze market-based solutions to poverty by providing patient, early-stage capital, and pre- and post-investment support to launch and scale high-impact for-profit social enterprises and promote extremely affordable, high-quality, life-improving products and services for people at the BoP.
With FINCA Ventures, you get tailored solutions to overcome market challenges to scale. Here’s how:
- Gain immediate credibility with customers by partnering with a trusted brand built from more than three decades of experience pioneering and scaling a social enterprise in underserved markets.
- Access creative end-user financing solutions through FINCA’s majority ownership of FINCA Impact Finance, one of the largest networks of community-based microfinance institutions and banks providing responsible financial services to the BoP.
- Reach a global marketplace of nearly 2 million customers served by 10,000 FINCA employees and agents across 2,000 service outlets in 20 countries on 5 continents
- Collaborate with top talent through expert in-house teams dedicated to providing world-class impact research, communications, finance, and legal support to help drive accelerated growth.
- Tap into a proven ability to advise on and facilitate product distribution, operations management, marketing and branding, future fundraising, and more.
Investment Profile
Billions of people have been left behind by the world’s progress. We know that it doesn’t have to be this way. We look for entrepreneurs that feel the same.
We invest in transformational ideas, partner with the uncompromisingly ambitious, and commit to visions of global growth and scale. We want to create a global network of social enterprises that improve lives worldwide.
FINCA Ventures will accelerate your growth with the tools you’ll need to deliver both financial and social performance. Here’s what you need to know:
- Capital Type: Equity, or convertible notes
- Round: Seed / Series A
- Amount: $50-500K with additional capital reserved for follow-on
- Deal Quantity: Target 5-7 investments per annum
- Criteria: Startups with a clear value proposition as to why and how they will leverage the FINCA network to deliver enduring social impact
- Geography: Sub-Saharan Africa, aligned with microfinance and bank footprint in DRC, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia
- Industry: Agnostic, with strong interest in the below sectors: Energy, WASH, Education, Health, Agriculture, Fintech
Download the FINCA Ventures Snapshot
Meet Your Team
With offices in Washington, DC and Nairobi, Kenya, the FINCA Ventures team is equipped to build, invest in, and grow profitable, impact-driven companies that are changing the world.