New fund puts $141 million toward digital finance in the developing world

Digital finance could completely reshape the economies of the developing world. Everyone in fintech knows that. But no one funding startups has ever devoted their full attention to serving people outside the traditional financial system — until now.

Accion and Quona Capital this week launched the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, which devotes $141 million to using financial technology in order to reach people without bank accounts, credit cards, insurance or access to loans.

The Frontier Inclusion Fund will use its millions to support innovations in alternative credit and payments, finance for small business, and tech in the insurance industry.

Quona Capital and its new fund are working for social good in finance, but they aren't nonprofits. Both endeavors are still part of the venture capital world, and they want to make money. They just realized that serving the 2 to 3 billion people who, for the most part, operate outside the global economy is a promising business idea.

"We want to show that these markets have the potential to have the outsize returns we've seen in western markets," said Monica Brand Engel, a partner at Quona Capital.

Accion, a nonprofit that provided much of the funding for the new endeavor, already works on similar projects. Quona Capital, the firm that will manage the fund, specializes in inclusive finance in emerging markets. Investors include JP Morgan, Mastercard, MetLife, Prudential, the Heifer Foundation, an affiliate of the World Bank and other financial institutions.

The groups say their fund is the first global fintech fund for the underserved. To start, it will work on funding startups in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, India and Southeast Asia. Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and the Philippines will be of particular focus. Those regions all have the tools in place — accelerators, local VCs, stable politics, regulations and macroeconomics — that mean VC funding can have a real impact.

"This is the first time institutional capital is coming together and targeting emerging markets," Brand Engel said. "Fintech for inclusion has never had a group of investors come together. Impact investing exists, but not at this scale."

Brand Engel said she thinks B2B startups, or ones that work with other businesses rather than directly with consumers, have the most potential in these markets. Small businesses and micro-businesses — even if they're just one person, run solely with cash — need payment technology, loans and all other kinds of inclusive fintech. Giving VC funding to those businesses will then bring more consumers into the global economy, too.

Accion and Quona Capital have already started to prove what $141 million can do for finance in the developing world. Some of the startups in their portfolio include Konfio, a startup that provides loans to micro-businesses in Mexico; Creditas, which offers home and auto equity loans to the emerging middle class in Brazil; a blockchain startup in the Philippines; Yoco, which wants to be the Square of Africa; and a few B2B payment companies in India.

Next, the fund might turn toward startups in China, Turkey, Indonesia, Argentina and other countries where inclusive fintech could help grow the economy, Brand Engel said.

But bringing VC funding to these markets has to be done right. Some major firms in Silicon Valley — Sequoia Capital and Union Square Ventures, for example — have invested in emerging markets on the side, but it barely scratches the surface. Others sometimes get excited about the potential of emerging markets, but don't actually visit or do their research before investing.

"We want to make sure people come into these markets intelligently," Brand Engel said. "VC in these markets is a new thing."