Washington, DC. (April 13, 2023) — Village Capital has announced 32 startups operating in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have been selected to join the Financial Solutions for Migrants program, an accelerator for impact-driven startups developing digital financial inclusion solutions for migrants.
The program which is funded by the Impact-Linked Fund for Gender Inclusive Fintech (ILF for GIF), managed by the Impact-Linked Finance Fund and supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Austrian Development Agency, the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation, will work with the startups to further develop and refine their products and solutions to fit the needs of different migrant communities including migrant women and refugees.
The program will provide a combination of intensive in-person and virtual investment readiness training, and connect the 32 startups to Village Capital’s wider investor and mentor community.
Meet the 32 startups developing financial inclusion solutions for migrants across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Africa
- Exuus (Rwanda) is building Africa’s largest marketplace for microloans and micro insurance products for smallholder farmers in informal social saving groups.
- Finhazi (Uganda) is the digital platform connecting the underserved to financial services.
- Fleri (Ghana/US) is a membership - based healthcare platform that empowers immigrants living in the diaspora to find and provide quality care to their loved ones overseas.
- HerVest (Nigeria) is an inclusive, fintech company that provides financial growth services from target savings, impact investing, and credit-specifically for smallholder women farmers and women-owned/led businesses in Nigeria.
- Kotani Pay (Kenya) is an on-ramp/ off-ramp service provider connecting blockchain apps, protocols, fintechs, and businesses to local payment channels using API, stablecoin settlement solution, and USSD.
- Patapia (Uganda) provides refugee women with a crucial market-based pathway to economic empowerment and increased stability.
- Payclide (Uganda) is a digital wallet that empowers African migrants, immigrant families, and entrepreneurs with a path to financial autonomy by enabling seamless cross-border spending, savings, and investments.
- PayingTone (Rwanda) is a 30-day, digital micro credit for essential goods and services with a merchant-only distribution model that provides digital consumer credit to be spent at its network of merchants point of sale.
- Regxta (Nigeria) is an inclusive digital platform that provides quick, easy and simple access to financial services for the unbanked people in rural and peri urban communities in Africa, including internally displaced people and refugees.
- Susu (Senegal/France) is making healthcare accessible and affordable for Africans by offering a combination of insurance and healthcare packages that can be financed by the African diaspora on behalf of their loved ones back home.
- Tumia (Kenya) aims to be the first mobile money platform facilitating money transactions across East Africa.
Asia
- Bandhu (India) is a tech platform that connects low-income migrant workers with bundled jobs & housing, ensuring safe rural-to-urban migration. Based on the workers' digital rental cash flows, they enable cheaper home improvement loans.
- Chalo Network (India) provides financial and documentation services to migrants and their households. They aim to provide affordable credit to migrant households for covering their migration cost, and initial stay at destination.
- Fatakpay (India) is an app based financial wellness platform offered as an employee benefit program through the employer by providing them easy access to credit and other financial products and services. They provide credit to thin-file individuals that are largely internal migrant workers in urban areas.
- Lucy (Singapore) is a mobile banking and business building services app to help entrepreneurial women to start and grow their businesses. It provides a suite of different services like early wage access, loans, savings accounts, remittances, and peer support network.
- Mitrata (India) is a Non-banking Financial Company (NBFC) - Microfinance Institution (MFI), providing credit facility to the marginalized, excluded and vulnerable groups for enterprise development and other essential needs.
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- Mother Finance (Myanmar) is Myanmar's first licensed fully-digital lender. They have a mobile app and plan to become the go-to super app for lending, savings, insurance, personal finance advisory, financial literacy and learning. They are currently piloting and in between launching a new credit product for emigrants traveling to the Gulf and other South/Southeast Asian countries for employment.
- Rahat (Nepal/Pakistan) is an open-source, cash and voucher assistance platform that uses blockchain-based mobile tokens that can be pegged to cash and/or commodities. Beneficiaries can access aid by using SMS, QR codes, NFC cards or digital wallets, or through feature phones as a digital bank.
- Vitto Micro-finance.AI (India) is a fintech platform focused on targeting the unserved sections of the Indian society and helping them secure microloans for their respective necessities. Its API tools helps banks potentially underwrite the low-income internal migrant segment
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- We Are Caring (Singapore) is an ethical employment agency for migrant domestic workers in South-East Asia providing a debt-free recruitment model, a way to find the right employer/helper, and support during the period of employment.
- YuvaPay (India) is a mobile payment platform for the last mile rural population who are un-connected and unbanked.
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- ZADA Solutions Pte Ltd (Singapore/Myanmar) is a decentralised identity network that enables the exchange of credentials. Individuals will be able to receive proof of their claims such as education, and share it to an organisation which can instantly verify it with no need to contact the original issuer.
The Middle East
- Aseel (US) is a platform delivering humanitarian aid with low overhead, providing market access for handmade artisans, and offering financial access.
- Balad (Egypt) is a NeoBank for migrants and their families.
- Credify (Egypt) is an Open API and SDK allowing lending and BNPL partners to enrich and automate their credit scoring using alternative data sources and their customers' digital footprint.
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- Cwallet Services (Qatar) is an award winning startup offering a digital platform to low-income and unbanked migrant workers, domestic helpers, and blue collar workers to receive salaries, send money home, pay bills, buy groceries from their local store, access metro tickets, purchase bus tickets, and transfer money to family and friends.
- Dinarak (Jordan) is a mobile payment service provider licensed by the Central Bank of Jordan and serving more than 400,000 customers and 2,000 businesses.
- Empowch (US/Lebanon) is a mobile payments and financial services platform empowering the unbanked by providing low-cost remittance and secure digital wallets.
- Monak E-Services (UAE) is a MENA-based migrant fintech company that provides financial inclusion and life services to migrants and underserved communities via partnered networks.
- Purpl (Lebanon) Purpl is a remittance and cash out aggregator API layered platform for the Levant region allowing for ATM network integration and cardless withdrawal, combined with a digital wallet in Lebanon.
- SAV Technologies (UAE) is a one-stop money management platform for migrant populations in the Middle East, focused on savings.
- Uqudo (UAE) is a digital onboarding, e-know-your-customer (e-KYC), anti-money laundering (AML), and know-your business (KYB) solutions provider with the widest verification capabilities in the region.
- XPay (Egypt) is a real time payments and lifestyle bank for youth and families.
For more information, reach out to Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com).
About Village Capital
Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.
Since 2009, Village Capital has supported over 1,400 startups that have raised over $5 billion in investment capital. It has made more than 150 investments through its various affiliated funds, including Vilcap Investments, which has invested in 110 peer-selected companies. Over 20,000 entrepreneurs have improved their investment readiness through its network of entrepreneur support organizations and its platform, Abaca. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital.
About the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is the agency for international cooperation of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The SDC is responsible for the overall coordination with other federal authorities of development cooperation and cooperation with Eastern Europe as well as for humanitarian aid delivered by the Swiss Confederation. Learn more.
About the Impact-Linked Finance Fund (ILFF)
The Impact-Linked Finance Fund (ILFF) provides finance to high-impact enterprises and directly rewards these for positive outcomes generated through their business activities. It was established by Roots of Impact and iGravity in order to pool their know-how and activities for implementing scalable Impact-Linked Funds.
The Fund, set up as a Dutch foundation, is acting as a capital provider and knowledge hub for the practice of Impact-Linked Finance. We also advocate for embedding impact-related principles and terms in other areas of business, policy and finance.
About the Austrian Development Agency
Combating poverty, ensuring peace and preserving the environment: These are the three major concerns of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the operational unit of Austrian Development Cooperation. ADA currently funds projects and programs with a total volume of more than 640 million euros to improve living conditions in developing countries. Together with the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, partner countries, public institutions, civil society organizations and businesses, ADA seeks to ensure that sustainable development works to the benefit of all people in Africa, Asia, Southeast and Eastern Europe.
