Barranquilla (November 21, 2023) — Village Capital, with support from Argidius Foundation, announced that AMPLO, Vertical-i, and Crowd Innovation Lab were the top three ranked Entrepreneur Support Organizations by their peers as part of the Colombian Ecosystem Builders Accelerator.
The accelerator program supported nine ESOs – such as accelerators, incubators, funds, universities, and service providers – that support entrepreneurs working across Colombia. 77% of the cohort headquartered in Colombia’s coast and 100% led by a female founder or C-suite member.
On the final day of the Colombian Ecosystem Builders Accelerator program, AMPLO, Vertical-i, and Crowd Innovation Lab were top-ranked by their group of peer organizations. The participant ESOs evaluated each other through a funder lens, using Village Capital’s ESO diagnostic tool and peer-selected methodology. Through the accelerator program, the ESOs participated in four hybrid capacity-development workshops and received mentorship from industry experts, investors, and ecosystem partners.
All participant ESO have received a USD 2K grant after completing the acceleration phase of the program. The peer-selected ESOs will receive additional USD 25K each to support their operations. With the training and equity-free funding received, they will be able to implement efficient and effective tools to better support entrepreneurs’ needs and build the infrastructure needed to ensure that Colombia can benefit from a thriving startup community.
The peer-selected startups focus on the following:
For more information, reach out to Sofía Cándano at Village Capital (sofia.candano@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.
Village Capital has operated in Latin America since 2015 by running over 16 accelerator programs involving more than 19 countries in the region including Bolivia, Guatemala, and Paraguay. VilCap has supported more than 170 locally-based startups working in sectors such as economic mobility, financial health, and sustainable agriculture. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @vilcap_latam.
About Argidius Foundation
Argidius Foundation was founded in 1956 to tackle poverty through enterprise development in emerging economies. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs build profitable businesses and contribute to the sustainable development of their communities. We do this by improving the effectiveness and reach of enterprise support organizations in low- and middle-income countries, especially in our focus countries in Latin America and East Africa.
