MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion Venture Lab Invests in 5 Startups Aiming to Bring Financial Services to Poor People, Including Salud Facil of Mexico, Varthana of India

Accion, a US-based provider of microenterprise loans and business training in 31 countries, has announced that its Accion Venture Lab, which provides seed capital and management support to financial inclusion startups, will invest an aggregate of USD 10 million in startup companies that deliver financial services to poor people around the globe. The companies include Mexico-based Salud Facil, which aims to help poor Mexicans pay for health care; India-based Varthana, which helps finance private school educations for poor people; as well as two unnamed payment companies in Asia and Mexico and a Hong Kong-based company that aims to offer improved credit scoring models.

Accion Venture Lab typically invests approximately USD 300,000 per startup in conjunction with other seed funds or angel investors. As of 2011, Accion reports total assets of USD 325 million and an active loan portfolio of USD 5.5 billion serving 5.1 million borrowers.

By Makai McClintock, Research Associate

About Accion
Accion is a private, US-based nonprofit organization with the mission of alleviating poverty by offering financial products such as microenterprise loans and business training. Accion was founded in 1961 and issued its first microloan in 1973 in Brazil. Accion’s partner microfinance institutions provide loans to men and women entrepreneurs through 62 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 31 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. As of 2011, Accion reports total assets of USD 325 million and an active loan portfolio of USD 5.5 billion serving 5.1 million borrowers.

Sources and Additional Resources

Bloomberg Businessweek, “A Microlender Backs Startups to Bring More Than Loans to the Poor,” http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-07/a-microlender-backs-startups-to-bring-more-than-loans-to-the-poor

Accion, “Consolidated Financial Statements and Report of Independent Certified Public Accountants,” http://www.accion.org/document.doc?id=18

MicroCapital, December 18, 2012: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion’s Frontier Investments, Saama Capital Invests $4m in Equity in Shubham Housing Development Finance of India,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-accions-frontier-investments-saama-capital-invest-4m-in-equity-in-shubham-housing-development-finance-of-india/

MicroCapital, July 5, 2012: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Accion to Launch $60m Frontier Investment Fund, Invest in Indian Microfinance, Other Ventures,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-accion-to-launch-60m-frontier-investment-fund-invest-in-indian-microfinance-other-ventures/

MicroCapital, June 25, 2012: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Swarna Pragati Housing Microfinance, Accion Invest $4.5m in Saija Finance of India,” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-swarna-pragati-housing-microfinance-accion-invest-4-5m-in-saija-equity-in-finance-of-india/#more-19235

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