The IGNIA Fund has raised $20.6 million that it plans to invest in companies targeting Latin America’s poorest residents. The round was led by Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment group created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. IGNIA’s financing is already larger than the $17 million that Omidyar Network helped raise for a similar fund in India, and it plans to raise more — $50 to $75 million in all, starting with a second round this summer.
Co-founder and managing partner Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui has plenty of experience with both microfinancing (namely, trying to improve a country’s economy by lending to small businesses) and bigger corporations; he is the chairman of the microfinance group ACCION International, but has also worked as the chief executive of Farmacias Benavides, supposedly the biggest drugstore chain in Latin America. IGNIA is the first social venture fund targeting this region, and it will take microfinancing to the next level, Arregui says.
“The best way to reach scale is through commercial means,” he says. “[Profitable] returns are a means to an end.”
The idea is to invest in commercially-promising companies that will serve what IGNIA calls “the bottom of the pyramid” (i.e., Latin America’s low-income population), and, therefore, improve the lives of that population while making money. The fund will invest between $2 million and $10 million in its portfolio companies, with initial investments as low as $500,000.
IGNIA says it will initially focus on companies in Mexico (where the fund is based), with investments in health care, education, housing, nutrition and basic utilities. Arregui says he can’t get any more specific until the fund announces its first investments.
IGNIA should attract both do-gooder investors and those looking for a financial payoff, he adds. Bringing on backers with different goals seems like a risky mix, but I’m definitely rooting for the fund to succeed. And at least it’s kicking off at a time when Latin America is becoming more hospitable to venture investment.
