LENDABLE CLOSES ON $110M Emerging Market Fintech Fund

Lendable Group today announced the final close of its Lendable MSME Fintech Credit Fund with $110 million of investable capital, exceeding the $100 million target. The Fund is Lendable’s fourth private debt fund that provides on and off balance sheet debt to fintechs that support MSMEs and the digital business ecosystem across Africa and SE Asia.

The Fund is a blended finance vehicle, which successfully combines leading investors including aid agencies, development finance institutions and commercial institutional capital. As part of the final close, a large European based insurance company joined the existing list of international investors including U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), JICA, FMO, BIO, EMIIF, SIFEM, OeEB, USAID and FSDAi. The Fund is a five-year and nine months blended finance closed-ended Luxembourg Reserved Alternative Investment Fund (RAIF), with FSDAi and EMIIF providing the first loss capital tranche.

"DFC’s support for Lendable helped the fund mobilize additional capital and ultimately raise $110 million in funding, illustrating the critical role of development finance institutions in catalysing private sector investment toward development outcomes,” said Agnes Dasewicz, DFC’s Chief Operating Officer.

With LMFCF, Lendable also expands its presence in Southeast Asia. “EMIIF, an Australian government investment mechanism, was designed to provide blended finance solutions so that more private capital can be mobilized towards impact investing strategies”, said Ralitsa Rizvanolli, Director of Investments, EMIIF.

The Fund marks a key milestone for impact funds in the financial inclusion space, attracting a broad range of investors to the asset class, some of whom have not previously been involved in fintech transactions. The Fund is an Article 9 Fund under the SFDR guidelines, with 100% of investments made into socially impactful and ESG underwritten fintechs.

Lendable is extremely excited to deploy this capital to fintechs in Africa and SE Asia. The Fund will aim to extend loans to over one million individuals and MSMEs and reach over three hundred thousand women end borrowers, generating significant income for those that have been financially excluded. This capital will directly contribute to Lendable’s mission of reducing inequalities, improving gender equality and creating decent work opportunities and economic growth.

The Fund will utilize Lendable’s proprietary technology, Maestro, to analyze live borrower data from its investee fintech CRMs, which provides an unparalleled level of granularity across the entire loan book. It is this level of transparency, both on an individual loan and portfolio basis, that enhances loan underwriting and allows for more effective and efficient risk management. This level of insight also enables Lendable to monitor and verify impact and thus generate robust impact reporting.

As of January 30, 2023, the Fund is actively seeking investment opportunities and has already invested over $70 million with borrowers in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Egypt, Benin, Tanzania, Ghana, Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand.