MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Rite Water of India Nets $8m in Equity from Incofin via Water Access Acceleration Fund

Incofin, a Belgium-based investor in lower-income countries, recently invested EUR 7.5 million (USD 7.8 million) through its Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF) in Rite Water Solutions, a company seeking to improve access to clean drinking water in India. Founded in 2006, Rite Water specializes in

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Institution PEBCo-Bethesda of Benin Borrows $2m from Incofin via Agricultural Liquidity Fund

Incofin, a Belgium-based investor, recently disbursed a loan of EUR 2 million (USD 2.1 million) to PEBCo-Bethesda, a microfinance institution in Benin, from the Agricultural Liquidity Fund (ALF).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: LOLC Buys 28% Equity Stake in Unguka Bank, Provider of Microfinance in Rwanda, from Incofin

Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC) Holdings, a Sri Lankan unit of the Japanese conglomerate Orix, recently paid an undisclosed sum to Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management to acquire 28 percent of the shares of Rwanda’s Unguka Bank. Unguka provides deposit, lending and other services to individuals as well as micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The bank has 15 service locations in the capital and three provinces. It serves 1,700 clients with total assets of USD 29 million. Unguka received its license from the National Bank of Rwanda in 2005.

Geert Peetermans, Co-CEO of Incofin commented: “From the time we

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Places $4.3m in Equity in Varashakti Housing Finance via India Progress Fund

Incofin, a Belgian investor in lower-income countries, has invested INR 350 million (USD 4.3 million) to take an equity stake of undisclosed size in Varashakti Housing Finance (VHF), a firm active in

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: DPAM, Korys Buy Equity in Incofin Investment Management to Boost Impact, Including Via Climate, Gender Funds

Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management recently sold fresh equity shares to two Belgian, family-controlled investment firms, Degroof Petercam Asset Management (DPAM) and Korys Investments. Incofin Investment Management remains

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Launches Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF) with $39m to Invest in Africa, Asia

The Belgium-based investment firm Incofin recently launched the Water Access Acceleration Fund (W2AF), a private equity fund with the objective of reaching 30 million people with access to safe drinking water, primarily in Africa and Asia. In particular

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Closes India Progress Fund with $77m to Promote Financial Inclusion, Agricultural Value Chains

The Belgium-based investment firm Incofin recently completed the final close of its India Progress Fund with a total of USD 77 million raised to support financial services providers and actors in

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Agritech SuperZop Nets $2.7m in Equity from Incofin India Progress Fund to Connect More Farmers, Retailers

Incofin Investment Management of Belgium recently invested USD 2.7 million to purchase a stake of undisclosed size in SuperZop, a technology firm that helps farmers and mills sell their whole grain, flour and other staples to restaurants and shops in India. SuperZop also packages food under its Khetika brand and provides

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bamboo, CABEI, IFC Exit Holdings in Banco Popular as Incofin, Triple Jump Buy In; BIO, FMO Increase Equity Stakes to Boost Rural Microfinance in Honduras

Approximately 64 percent of the shares of the Honduran microfinance institution Banco Popular are changing hands as two multilateral institutions that first invested in Popular in 2007 are exiting their holdings. The sellers are the Central American Bank for Economic Integration; the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation; and Bamboo Capital, which has been an investor in the microbank since 2012.

Popular serves 60,000 clients and reports

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Sahyadri Farms of India Raises $39m in Equity from Incofin, FMO, Korys, Proparco to Boost Smallholder Farmers’ Exports of Fruits, Vegetables

The Belgian impact investor Incofin recently led an investment round in Sahyadri Farms, an Indian firm that works with smallholder farmers to grow and process food for export. The value of the equity round is INR 3.1 billion (USD 39 million), including participation from the Dutch development bank Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO); Korys, the impact investing firm of Belgium’s Colruyt family; and the French government’s Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco).

Sahyadri Farms is a “farmer-led” firm that buys nine crops from 18,000 farmers who tend

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Invests $6m in Peer-to-peer Lender Amartha from Inclusive Finance Fund, Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF) to Increase Group Lending to Female Entrepreneurs in Rural Indonesia

Amartha, a firm offering peer-to-peer lending and other services in Indonesia, recently gained access to USD 6 million in debt financing from the Belgian impact investing firm Incofin Investment Management in an attempt to boost access to financial services for women entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia. Two thirds of the total invested comes from the Microfinance Enhancement Facility (MEF), and the remainder is sourced from

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Sells 20% Equity Stake in ACEP Burkina to SIDI

Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM) recently sold the 20-percent equity stake in Agence de Crédit pour l’Entreprise Privée (ACEP) Burkina, a microfinance institution in Burkina Faso, that it had held through its Incofin CVSO fund. The buyer is Solidarité Internationale pour le Développement et l’Investissement (SIDI), a French social business that is

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bailyk Finance Borrows from Incofin for On-lending to Small-scale Entrepreneurs, Farmers in Kyrgyzstan

Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management recently provided a loan of an undisclosed amount to Kyrgyzstan-based Bailyk Finance to support the microlender’s mission “to create affordable financial solutions for rural and small cities’ residents to improve their quality of life.” Established in 2011, Bailyk provides microloans and associated insurance for consumption, enterprise, farming, housing, solar energy, medical and other purposes to 45,000 consumers – mostly women – through 43 offices. The company’s loan formats include

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Lends $1.5m from Fairtrade Access Fund to Lafaza to Support Vanilla Farmers in Sava Region of Madagascar

Belgium’s Incofin Investment Management recently lent USD 1.5 million from the Fairtrade Access Fund (FAF) to Lafaza Trading, a company with offices in Madagascar and the US that buys vanilla and other spices “directly [from 1,000] smallholder farm owners who use organic and sustainable agricultural practices.” Lafaza works with farmers to help them

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Investment Management Names Buysens, Peetermans Co-CEOs

The Belgian impact investing firm Incofin Investment Management announced today that it has promoted two of its senior staff members to lead the company as co-CEOs: Paul Buysens, who joined Incofin in 2018 as its COO, and Geert Peetermans, who has 20 years of service as

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: SuperZop, Agri-commerce Platform in India, Nets $4m in Equity from Incofin, 1st-time Investor in Agricultural Technology

Incofin Investment Management, a Belgium-based investor in financial inclusion and agriculture in developing countries, recently agreed to invest USD 4 million from its India Progress Fund (IPF) in SuperZop, whose app helps “small retailers and restaurants buy staples directly from farmers and food processors.” Among the app’s functions is to use artificial intelligence to analyze the quality of grains

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triple Jump via ASN Microkredietpool, NMI, Incofin Place $9.4m in Equity in Light Microfinance for Financial Inclusion of Women in Rural India

Light Microfinance, a non-banking finance institution in India, recently raised equity from three European organizations: USD 4 million from Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI), a Norway-based public-private partnership active in Africa and Asia; USD 3 million from ASN Microkredietpool, a microfinance fund managed by Netherlands-based Triple Jump; and EUR 2 million (USD 2.4 million) from

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Incofin Raises $60m for India Progress Fund, Bringing Equity Investments to Rural Entrepreneurs, Value Chains from DFIs, Family Offices, King Baudouin Foundation, Korys, SDG Frontier Fund

Belgium-based Incofin Investment Management recently announced it has raised USD 60 million for the first close of the Incofin India Progress Fund (IPF). The fund will issue private equity investments that support