Accion Venture Lab to Fund African Fintech Startups From $23 Million Inclusive Fund

Accion Venture Lab has created a new $23m inclusive Fintech startup fund for Fintech startups around the world. The new fund will see Accion provide seed-stage funding of about $500,000 to Fintech startups aiding financial inclusion.

These startups will be originally sourced through Accion’s investment leads around the world. It has made its first seed investment in US-based Fintech platform for gig economy workers,  Joust.

According to Techcrunch, the new fund will also give an equal footing for every applying Fintech startups irrespective of location – frontier, emerging, and developed markets.

So far, the lab has a portfolio of 36 Fintech startup investments across 5 continents, including African startups like Apollo Agriculture, Lidya, and Lulalend. These startups have gone on to scale, providing solutions to millions of people in their markets.

“Fintech startups are finding new ways to provide products and services that help these underserved people. Yet often startups lack the capital and strategic support they need to grow and scale their impact. Accion Venture Lab addresses this need.”

Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion.

This new fund has been christened the Accion Venture Lab Limited Partnership. It was sourced from a group of third-party impact and commercial investors that share Venture Lab’s commitment to fund innovative Fintech startups that provide financial services to the underserved.

These investors include the Ford Foundation, Visa Inc. and Proparco.

The new LP fund will take a specific interest in startups located in Africa as it will allocate about 30% of the $23m to them. This doesn’t come off too surprising when you consider that Africa is popularly called the “Unbanked Continent” with several of the entire population not having access to financial services.

Of recent, there has been a massive spring up of innovative Fintech startups in the region who are in need of capital and strategic support they need to grow and scale their impact.

However, startups from any other location in the world will be considered as long as they meet the necessary criteria.

Launched in 2012, Accion Venture Lab is the investment arm of Accion. The lab wants to invest in Fintech startups at the seed stage to increase global financial inclusion.