IFC has launched a new $225 million platform to strengthen venture capital ecosystems in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan, and invest in early-stage companies addressing development challenges through technological innovations in climate, health care, education, agriculture, e-commerce, and other sectors.
“Support for entrepreneurship and digital transformation is essential to economic growth, job creation, and resilience. IFC’s Venture Capital Platform will help tech companies and entrepreneurs expand during a time of capital shortage, creating scalable investment opportunities and backing countries’ efforts to build transformative tech ecosystems. We want to help develop homegrown innovative solutions that are not only relevant to emerging countries but can also be exported to the rest of the world,” said Makhtar Diop, IFC’s Managing Director.
IFC will make equity or equity-like investments in tech startups and help them grow into scalable ventures that can attract mainstream equity and debt financing. IFC will also use the platform to collaborate with other teams in the World Bank Group to create and bolster venture capital ecosystems through regulatory reforms, sector analyses, and other tools.
The IFC VC platform will also focus on investments in low-income and fragile countries and help generate a pipeline of credible early-stage companies.
The platform will be backed by an additional $50 million from the Blended Finance Facility of the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window, which helps de-risk investments in low-income countries.
IFC recently invested $15 million in the second fund from Algebra Ventures to support Egyptian tech startups.
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