Proparco is investing in start-up fintechs

Accion Quona Inclusion Fund (“AQIF”) is a venture capital fund dedicated to financing fintechs targeting underbanked populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This fund is dedicated to financial inclusion and aims to extend access to basic financial services to the most remote and most vulnerable populations by taking advantage of the latest technological innovations.

AQIF is the second fund launched by the manager Quona Capital and supported by Accion, an international NGO with headquarters in the USA that is committed to financial inclusion. With USD 155m of assets under management and about twenty fintech investments, Quona Capital is today recognized on the markets where it invests (Asia, Africa and Latin America) as one of the top fintech specialists. 

Following on from the previous fund, the Quona Capital teams aim, via AQIF, to invest in start-up fintechs that have got through the stages of ideation (prototyping) and creation and have already launched their product on the market. 

AQIF wishes to invest in 15 to 20 start-ups with an initial ticket ranging between USD 1m and USD 7m to support their growth and scale-up. They are Series A and Series B minority equity investments. The fund targets companies that take advantage of technology to tackle the bottlenecks, gaps and inefficiencies in the solutions that financial service operators currently offer.  

The fund has worldwide coverage, but focuses particularly on Asia (India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) and Africa (Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa).

The project is being implemented in markets characterized by a lack of access to basic financial services and where the emergence of fintechs is structural for the development of financial inclusion.

Quona’s value creation strategy is based on three pillars: (i) the exchange of information and expertise (between Quona, its partners and its underlying companies), (ii) technical assistance and support for the underlying companies on operational, financial and strategic issues and (iii) Quona’s involvement in governance and its structuring. 

In terms of direct and indirect impacts, the project should contribute to (i) creating and maintaining employment in the funds and the companies invested in, (ii) increasing access to financial services, (iii) helping start-ups improve governance, accounting practices and reporting and (iv) improving the regulatory framework through the participation of the underlying companies in discussions with the main public decision-makers. It should be noted that Quona participated in the development of the Investor Guidelines for Responsible Digital Finance supported by Goodwell Investments and IFC.