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IFC Invests Another $35 Million Into Brazil’s Odata
International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested a further $35 million into Brazilian data center firm OData.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Latin America
- Tags
- accelerators, data, impact investing, scale
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Press Release: United States Announces $30 Million Commitment to Advance Women and Girls’ Rights in Afghanistan
The “Enabling Essential Services for Afghan Women and Girls” activity will increase Afghan women and girls’ access to social protection services
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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Dezerv Raises $21 Million in Funding Led by Accel
Portfolio management startup Dezerv has raised USD 21 million in Series A funding led by Accel to drive funding to working professionals.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Why Social Enterprises Struggle to Measure Impact – And What Impact Investors Can Do About It
Impact investors typically rely on output measurements, such as total capital invested or number of people served, to assess their impact. But it's harder for investors and their investees to sustainably capture outcome data that assesses actual improvements in customers' lives. Spencer MacColl at Kiva shares data from Kiva's annual impact measurement survey, which reflects the current measurement practices and challenges of the microfinance institutions and other social enterprises Kiva supports. He explores the lessons these findings offer to impact investors and others who are working to design more effective measurement practices.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing, Social Enterprise
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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.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Power of Litigation Funding: How Social Enterprises and Other Small Businesses Can Use it to Defend Their Legal Rights – And Access Capital
Social enterprises and other small businesses are often at a disadvantage when disputes arise with larger companies – particularly in the international context, where the option of going to local courts is not always available. Patrick Miller at P Miller Legal Services explores how commercial litigation funding can address this issue, by enabling these enterprises to access skilled international counsel funded by external investors who receive a proportion of any eventual award. He discusses the benefits this approach can offer to both small businesses and investors.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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The Power of Results-Based Funding for Poverty Alleviation: What We Learned from Africa’s First-Ever Development Impact Bond – and What’s Next
Development impact bonds (DIBs) are an innovative, results-based funding model with the potential to reduce poverty and make aid more effective. To assess their impact, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on Africa's first-ever DIB for poverty alleviation, which supported a poverty graduation program implemented by Village Enterprise. Dianne Calvi at Village Enterprise and Brian Boland at the Delta Fund (one of the nine philanthropic investors in the DIB) discuss the results of this study, what they mean for the sector, and how results-based funding can evolve to maximize its impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Pan-African CAIF Fund Closes at $112.8 Million
Tunisia-based multi-asset investment platform AfricInvest and US-based VC firm Cathay Innovation, have completed the final close of their joint Pan-African venture fund.
- Categories
- Education, Finance, Health Care, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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