Tuesday
July 26
2022

Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap Fund Announces Investment in Seedstars’ $30 Million Emerging Market Portfolio

Seedstars launched its second emerging market seed stage fund, Seedstars International Ventures II. The firm announced the first close of the $30 million fund which has $20 million committed, with The Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap Fund as one of four co-anchor investments alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Visa Foundation, and Symbiotics.

Since 2013, Seedstars has supported over 90 emerging market venture ecosystems, seeing firsthand how the founder talent pool has matured with 2,070 VC-backed startups in 2021 in their core markets versus just over 560 in 2017 (Source: GPCA). Seedstars will leverage this progress and invest in 100 pre-seed and seed stage companies across Asia, Africa, MENA, and LATAM over the next 3 years. Investments will be focused on companies building for the future of finance, commerce, health, work, and education, with follow-on investments up to Series A.

“I have no doubt about the abundance of talented founders or the market opportunities, but the challenges can’t be ignored. Our strategy innovates on so many levels to mitigate risk, be it through our country diversification, portfolio construction strategy, value creation platform, or the blended finance structure,” said Charlie Graham-Brown, Seedstars Partner. “We have a unique recipe, an incredible team, and backers in place to build on the success of the first fund and level the playing field for tech entrepreneurs around the world.”

Photo courtesy of Micheile Henderson.

Source: The Rockefeller Foundation (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance, Health Care
Tags
e-commerce, impact investing