Accion Venture Lab is an investment initiative that drives financial inclusion globally. They invest capital in and provide support to innovative fintech start-ups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale.
They are particularly interested in technology and business model innovation as well as new approaches that help underserved people and small businesses benefit from the world’s formal economy. They look for models leveraging new technologies (e.g., blockchain and distributed ledger, digital ID and full stack infrastructure), newly digitized forms of data (e.g., social media, digital transaction footprints) and new analytical tools (e.g., machine learning). They also look for innovative customer engagement models that create meaningful and delightful user experiences. They are excited about new approaches that focus on financial health and building financial capabilities.
Since early-stage startups traditionally lack access to capital and assistance, Accion Venture Lab provides flexible financial and non-financial support to address the needs of our portfolio, including:
Investment: They will typically invest U.S. $300,000 to $500,000 in equity or quasi-equity instruments as part of the first institutional round of capital for seed-stage startups. They welcome opportunities to co-invest with like-minded investors and often build syndicates to channel capital into promising opportunities. They continue to support companies as they grow through follow-on capital that drives scale.
Support: Accion Venture Lab is an active and engaged investor, providing investees with strategic and operational support across a broad range of business areas. They do this through governance, often in the form of a board role, as well as through our portfolio engagement function, which consists of an in-house team that works closely with portfolio companies in the areas of growth strategy, customer insights, product and pricing, process and operations, and human capital. In addition to day-to-day support from the Venture Lab team, investee companies may get connected to Accion’s technical experts (technology, risk management, etc.), microfinance teams and customers from partner institutions around the world, and the global banking and investing community.
Accion Venture Lab's Company Builder is recruiting entrepreneurs to identify, validate, and launch inclusive consumer-facing fintech business models in Nigeria. Accion will work with you to build the business from the ground up, leveraging our global knowledge and expertise in fintech models for financial inclusion and providing financial and non-financial support as the business scales.
