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Fintech startups took nearly a third of all African venture funding in 2017
While fintech is seen as disrupting the traditional financial sector in more advanced economies, in Africa it is bridging gaps that have not been addressed by the banking industry to begin with. Between 2015 and 2017, African fintech startups including names like Flutterwave and Paystack jointly raised more than $100 million.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Michael and Susan Dell Foundation-backed Education Catalyst Fund makes two bets
Education Catalyst Fund, which is managed by global philanthropic organization Michael and Susan Dell Foundation-backed CBA Capital, has made two more investments in the education space.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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An Impact Investor Urges Caution on the ‘Energy Access Hype Cycle’
Ceniarth, an impact investor, has been actively engaged in the energy access sector since 2014. But now it's reducing its exposure to the venture-backed, solar home system segment of this market while shifting its strategy toward enterprises – for-profit, nonprofit and hybrid – that are finding the most capital-efficient ways to reach rural customers. Here, three principals in the firm candidly explain why they are reassessing their approach.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
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Facebook co-founder’s B Capital leads $10M investment in Indian payment startup Mswipe
B Capital, the investment firm from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin backed by BCG, has stepped into India after it backed smart point-of-sale company Mswipe in its first deal in the country.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech, venture capital
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Venture Capital is Broken – Here’s How to Fix It: A Q&A with Village Capital President Ross Baird
Venture capital investors are often backing the wrong ideas for the wrong reasons, hoping to strike it rich by dumping billions into frivolous apps that benefit only a wealthy sliver of the world’s population. Meanwhile, innovative solutions to pressing global challenges go underfunded. That's the thesis of Village Capital president Ross Baird, which he expresses in a new book. NextBillion editor Sonya Vann DeLoach discusses the book's message with Baird in this interview.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Viewpoint: Impact funds not scaling fast enough in India
There isn’t any doubt that impact investors such as Aavishkaar have made tremendous progress over the past decade since venture capital as an asset class returned in earnest to this market. Over the last seven years, 2010-2016, impact investors have put $5.2 billion to work across 485 deals, according to a McKinsey & Co. report in September. It wasn’t until 2010 that impact investments in India started to gather momentum and the last two years have been quite exceptional. Investments touched the billion-dollar mark for the first time in 2015 and scaled to nearly $1.1 billion last year.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Press release: More Capital Flows in Africa and Latin America as Two New Impact Fund Managers Join the Capria Network
Since launching in 2015, Capria has reviewed more than 425 fund proposals and selected 11 fund managers who form the Capria Network. Capria’s two new fund managers are enabling significant impact in Africa and Latin America.
- Source
- Press release
- Categories
- Investing
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The U.S. government is investing about $200 million in overseas venture capital funds
The program, unveiled Wednesday at a conference by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, will dedicate around $200 million over the next few years in 10 to 15 venture funds that focus primarily on making a social impact in overseas countries. The exact amount of money allocated could change, but is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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