Michael Schlein

News

In this podcast, Accion president and CEO Michael Schlein explains why he’s bullish on fintech start-ups and shares how his organisation is leveraging investments in tech-led micro-finance innovation to reach the more than 2-billion people who are currently invisible and/or poorly served by the global financial system.

Read more at <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/financial-services/2020-01-30-podcast-making-the-case-for-global-financial-inclusion/">Business Day</a>.

PODCAST | Making the case for global financial inclusion

Neobank startup Joust is rolling out a new banking app to help freelancers and self-employed people manage their businesses, the company <a href="https://www.prweb.com/releases/joust_launches_a_fresh_new_banking_app_for_freelancers_self_employed_workers/prweb16862400.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> on Wednesday (Jan. 29).

The app was designed using input from customers and features an analytical dashboard, Joust Visa debit card management, invoice creation, payments and more. Additional features will be introduced throughout 2020.

Joust Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Lamine Zarrad said the Joust app first launched in beta, where the startup “dug deep” to tap into customer feedback.

He added that customers of Joust are “risk-takers who want one place to easily manage their finances.” Feedback indicated that people wanted a “modern, streamlined user experience, ways to quickly visualize their finances, and manage clients, income and payments.”

The new features complement PayArmour, Joust’s invoice-guaranteeing product that covers unpaid client invoices. Joust accounts are also FDIC-insured and are combined with a merchant account.

Read more at <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/news/b2b-payments/2020/neobank-joust-targets-freelancers-with-new-app/">PYMNTS</a>.

Neobank Joust Targets Freelancers With New App

Latin America’s banner year for venture capital investing was driven by eight- and nine-figure deals, particularly for fintech investments. SoftBank alone invested more than $1 billion from its $5 billion fund for the region, including in <strong>Rappi, a</strong> Colombia-based delivery startup, and <strong>Clip</strong>, a Mexican payments provider initially backed by Accion. Argentina-based digital lender Ualá has raised nearly $200 million, including from Tencent Holdings and SoftBank. Brazil’s neo-bank unicorn <strong>NuBank</strong> raised $400 million.

Read more at <a href="https://impactalpha.com/flexible-financing-gives-venture-capital-a-run-for-the-money-in-latin-america/">ImpactAlpha</a>.

Flexible financing gives venture capital a run for the money in Latin America

Back in August 2019, we <a href="https://techstartups.com/2019/08/12/fintech-startup-joust-raises-2-6-million-seed-round-nations-first-business-banking-platform-freelancers-entrepreneurs-self-employed-workers/">wrote </a>about <a href="https://joust.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Joust</a> when the fintech startup raised $2.6 million seed round for the nation’s first banking platform for freelancers, entrepreneurs and the self-employed workers. Today, Joust announced the launch of a new banking app for freelancers &amp; self employed workers.

The new app has a modern, intuitive re-design, and a slate of new, consumer-driven features — with additional features releasing throughout 2020. Based on customer feedback, these new features include an analytical dashboard, Joust Visa debit card management, invoice creation/payments, and more. Joust will continue to release a host of new app features throughout 2020.

In addition to these new features, the Joust app will continue to boast its invoice-guaranteeing product, PayArmour™, which funds unpaid client invoices, and its FDIC-insured bank account combined with a merchant account.

Founded in 2017 by Lamine Zarrad and George Kurtyka, Joust is the nation’s first all-inclusive banking platform for independent professionals. It serves freelancers, contractors, and self-employed workers in all 50 states. Joust helps its users handle invoices and payments and provides protection against late or missed payments. The round was led by PTB Ventures and also included Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment initiative of global nonprofit Accion; Financial Venture Studio; and Techstars. The funds will support Joust as it expands its platform to serve the growing freelance workforce segment.

“We are thrilled to announce our new app. Since our beta launch, we have kept a steady eye on our users and really dug deep into our product feedback,” says Joust’s CEO and Co-Founder, Lamine Zarrad. “Our users are risk-takers who want one place to easily manage their finances — so they can have the time and space to focus on their passions. They wanted a modern, streamlined user experience, ways to quickly visualize their finances, and manage clients, income and payments. Basically, they want one business platform that helps them from point A to Z. Our new app does that and will continue to do so throughout the year.”

Currently, the U.S. has 57 million freelancers, and by 2027, more than 50% of the country’s workforce is expected to freelance in some capacity (Upwork &amp; Freelancers Union, 2019). This rapid increase in independent workers has given rise to a range of new financial needs — including managing clients, accepting a range of payments (e.g. credit card payments), and mitigating the risk of irregular income. The Joust app was created to solve these workers’ often overlooked financial and banking needs.

The new app design is clean, intuitive and aspirational, giving users the flexibility and ability to navigate easily from one function to the next. The customizable dashboard includes bank account analytics, client management, invoice features, and bill pay services. Launched in 2019, the Joust Visa debit card can also be managed within the app.

Read more at <a href="https://techstartups.com/2020/01/28/fintech-startup-joust-launches-a-new-banking-app-for-freelancers-and-self-employed-workers/">TechStartups</a>.

Fintech startup Joust launches a new banking app for freelancers and self employed workers

Accion CEO Michael Schlein explains why he's bullish on fintech startups and shares how his organisation is leveraging investments in tech-led microfinance innovation to reach the more than two billion people who are currently invisible to and/or poorly served by the global financial system.

Listen at <a href="https://www.africantechroundup.com/accion-michael-schlein/">African Tech Roundup</a>.

Accion's Michael Schlein on Financial Inclusion, Fintech & Impact Investment Sceptics

<p class="first_paragraph">Catalyst Fund, a Boston-based accelerator for early-stage technology start-ups, has raised $15 million with its long-term backer JP Morgan and UK Aid to back 30 fintech start-ups founded across South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, India and Mexico over the next three years.</p>
The US and UK-backed accelerator offers mentorship and non-equity funding to fintechs tackling financial inclusion in emerging markets. With fresh funding, ten fintech start-ups from across all five countries will be selected each year to take part in the fund’s programme.

The announcement came alongside this week’s UK-Africa Investment Summit, which was hosted by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Read more at <a href="https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/01/catalyst-fund-raises-15m-from-jpmorgan-and-uk-aid-for-emerging-market-fintechs/">Fintech Futures</a>.

Catalyst Fund raises $15m from JP Morgan and UK Aid for emerging market fintechs

<p id="speakable-summary">The Catalyst Fund has gained $15 million in new support from JP Morgan and UK Aid and will back 30 fintech startups in Africa, Asia, and Latin America over the next three years.</p>
The Boston based accelerator provides mentorship and non-equity funding to early-stage tech ventures focused on driving financial inclusion in emerging and frontier markets.

That means connecting people who may not have access to basic financial services — like a bank account, credit or lending options — to those products.

<a href="https://catalyst-fund.org/">Catalyst Fund</a> will choose an annual cohort of 10 fintech startups in five designated countries: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India and Mexico. Those selected will gain grant-funds and go through a six-month accelerator program. The details of that and how to apply are<a href="https://catalyst-fund.org/accelerator"> found here</a>.

“We’re offering grants of up to $100,000 to early-stage companies, plus venture building support…and really…putting these companies on a path to product market fit,” Catalyst Fund Director <a href="https://bfaglobal.com/member/maelis-carraro/">Maelis Carraro</a> told TechCrunch.

Program participants gain exposure to the fund’s <a href="https://catalyst-fund.org/circles">investor networks</a> and investor advisory committee, that include <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/03/accion-venture-lab-launches-23m-inclusive-fintech-startup-fund/">Accion </a>and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/23/hear-about-investing-in-african-tech-at-disrupt-sf-with-marieme-diop-wale-ayeni-and-sheel-mohnot/">500 Startups. </a>With the $15 million Catalyst Fund will also make some additions to its network of global partners that support the accelerator program. Names will be forthcoming, but Carraro, was able to disclose that India’s <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/yes-bank">Yes Bank </a>and University of Cambridge are among them.

Read more at <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/19/catalyst-fund-gets-15m-from-jp-morgan-uk-aid-to-back-30-em-fintech-startups/">TechCrunch</a>.

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Catalyst Fund gets $15M from JP Morgan, UK Aid to back 30 EM fintech startups

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<div>Aye Finance on Thursday said one of its early investors, Accion has solid its stake in the Indian fintech company to A91 Partners.</div>
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<div>Read more at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/accion-sells-stake-in-aye-finance-to-a91-partners/articleshow/73298710.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst">Business Insider India</a>.

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Accion sells stake in Aye Finance to A91 Partners

<p class="selectionShareable">Accion, a US-based non-profit organisation, has sold its stake in Aye Finance to Indian investment firm A91 Partners.</p>
<p class="selectionShareable">A91 is a venture capital firm founded by ex-Sequoia executives VT Bharadwaj, Abhay Pandey, Gautam Mago and Kaushik Anand in November 2018. The firm has been focusing on startups in consumer, financial services, technology and healthcare sectors in India.</p>
<p class="selectionShareable">The first fund of $351Mn was raised in 2019 and its portfolio includes Mumbai-based make-up brand Sugar Cosmetics, Hector Beverages which owns popular drink brand Paper Boat and Atomberg Technologies. A91 Partners is focused on making mid-stage investments, in Series B and C deals ranging between $10 Mn and $30 Mn.</p>
<p class="selectionShareable">“Over the last 2 years, Aye has grown from INR 500 Cr to over INR 1500 Cr of AUM using technology as a backbone to scale the business,” said Kaushik Anand, Partner, A91 Partners.</p>
Read more at<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/aye-finance-investor-accion-sells-its-stake-to-a91-partners/"> Inc42</a>.

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Aye Finance Investor Accion Sells Its Stake To A91 Partners

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Venture capital firm A91 Partners has invested about $20 million in small-business lender Aye Finance through a secondary sale of shares, acquiring the stake of Accion, two people aware of the matter said.

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A91 and Aye Finance separately confirmed the investment to <em>Mint</em>, but did not comment on the deal size.

Started by Sanjay Sharma in 2014, Aye Finance typically infuses <span class="webrupee">₹</span>1-2 lakh into businesses with an annual turnover of <span class="webrupee">₹</span>10-30 lakh. It underwrites the risks in these loans with a unique cluster-based model, wherein it evaluates all the people in a particular field, say, automobile workers or textile workers, and correlates behavioural tendencies.

So far, Aye has raised nearly $70 million in primary capital from investors such as SAIF Partners, Falcon Edge Capital, Accion and Capital G. It is preparing for another equity fundraise and is scouting for a banker to run the process, said the people cited above.

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Read more at <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/a91-invests-in-small-business-lender-aye-finance-11579112997187.html">LiveMint</a>.

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A91  invests  in  small-business  lender  Aye Finance

<div>Gurugram-based Fintech lending firm Aye Finance on Thursday announced that Accion, one of its early investors, has sold its stake in the startup to Mumbai-based A91 Partners, which launched its first fund only in 2019.</div>
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<div>Accion, the global non-profit organisation that has a commitment to create a financially inclusive world, has made its impact in microfinance and fintech impact investing for more than 50 years. It first invested in Aye through its seed-stage fintech investment initiative Accion Venture Lab in early 2015. It also co-led Aye’s first institutional investment round when the startup had just begun its lending operations.

Read more at <a href="https://yourstory.com/2020/01/aye-finance-accion-exit-a91-partners-investor">YourStory</a>.</div>
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<p id="speakable-summary">2019 brought more global attention to Africa’s tech scene than perhaps any previous year.</p>
A high-profile IPO, visits by both Jacks (Ma and Dorsey) and big Chinese startup investment energized that.

The last 12 months served as a grande finale to 10 years that saw triple-digit increases in startup formation and VC on the continent.

Here’s an overview of the 2019 market events that captured attention and capped off a decade of rapid growth in African tech.

Read more at <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/30/2019-africa-roundup-jumia-ipos-china-goes-digital-nigeria-becomes-fintech-capital/">TechCrunch</a>.

2019 Africa Roundup: Jumia IPOs, China goes digital, Nigeria becomes fintech capital

Fintech remains one of the hottest tech verticals in Africa. This year saw African fintech startups based on the continent raise over $53-million in 25 deals (in disclosed deals).

Fintech deals accounted for about 18% of the almost $290-million netted in 88 disclosed deals reported by Ventureburn in 2019.

The biggest chunk this year went to the mobility and logistics vertical and distribution platforms, which together netted about 41% of disclosed deal value in 2019 (see this <a href="https://ventureburn.com/2019/12/deals-african-startups-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">story</a>).

When it comes to fintech, Sub-Sahara Africa is the favoured region for some of the world’s top startups looking to tackle financial inclusion, if the names of those listed as part of the <a href="https://www.inclusivefintech50.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Inclusive Fintech 50</a> initiative is anything to go by (see this <a href="https://ventureburn.com/2019/06/inclusive-fintech-50-list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">story</a>).

Read more at <a href="https://ventureburn.com/2019/12/10-ways-africas-fintech-sector-boomed-in-2019/">Ventureburn</a>.

10 ways Africa’s fintech sector boomed in 2019

Vikas Raj

<div>Drawn from our comprehensive coverage of India’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, we present around a 100 quotes from investors on sector opportunities for Indian startups (see Part I of the compilation here). How are data and deep tech creating new opportunities? What will it take to boost India’s design and production capacity in hardware? What looming gaps can digital health entrepreneurs fill?</div>
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<div>"There is strong potential for inclusive fintech startups to reach historically underserved communities while generating returns." - Vikas Raj, Accion Venture Lab

Read more at <a href="https://yourstory.com/2019/12/quotes-2019-investors-india-fintech-health-edu-agri">YourStory</a>.</div>
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[Year in Review 2019] Top quotes by investors on startup opportunities in fintech, health, education, deep tech

Decades-long partnership results in microloans and savings for hundreds of thousands of low-income clients

Press Release

BOGOTA, December 19, 2019 -- Global nonprofit Accion announced today its successful exit from Banco Compartir (“Bancompartir”), one of Colombia’s largest microfinance institutions. Through multiple strategic investments, governance guidance, and advisory services, Accion’s support has helped Bancompartir provide financial services to more than 450,000 savings clients and over 100,000 borrowers. The exit comes upon Bancompartir’s recent acquisition by Credicorp Ltd., a leading Latin American financial services holding company with operations in Peru, Colombia, Chile and Bolivia.

The relationship between Accion and Bancompartir began over three decades ago, when Accion partnered with a local community savings group to establish a microcredit foundation. Bancompartir eventually became a regulated microfinance institution and then a fully regulated bank, and in the last 20 years it has substantially grown its client base. Today, it manages a loan and deposit portfolio of over $230 million, and is a pillar of Colombia’s financial sector.

Bancompartir has its roots in an organization formed for collective savings and lending to help survivors of a deadly volcano eruption in the Colombian Andes in 1985. In 1988, Accion began working with the group to launch microcredit operations in Bogota, and has continued to work closely with Bancompartir in the years since, providing investments, governance, and strategic advisory services in multiple areas, including product innovation and its transformation into a fully regulated bank.

Accion’s President and CEO Michael Schlein said, “At a time when Latin America’s microfinance market was just beginning to take shape, Accion recognized the potential of the organization now known as Bancompartir, and they have more than fulfilled that promise - today providing vital financial services to hundreds of thousands of families and entrepreneurs across Colombia. I’m very proud of what we and Bancompartir achieved together over the last 30 years and congratulate them as they begin their next chapter.”

Diego Guzmán, Senior Vice President and Chief Relationship Officer Latin America for Accion, said, “We are confident that with the resources and dynamism of its new partners, Bancompartir will build on its success and blaze new trails in serving the financially excluded in Colombia, setting an example for the microfinance industry throughout Latin America and beyond.”

“For almost 30 years, Accion has supported Bancompartir’s strategic objectives with strong commitment and professionalism. Accion gave us their trust since we were a nonprofit organization and has been a key contributor to the successful path towards becoming part of the largest microfinance group in Latam, Credicorp. We want to thank Accion and all the professionals who supported us throughout all these years,” said Gregorio Mejía, President of Bancompartir.
<p style="text-align: center;">###</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>About Accion</strong></p>
Accion is a global nonprofit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a pioneering legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. We catalyze financial service providers to deliver high-quality, affordable solutions at scale for the three billion people who are left out of — or poorly served by — the financial sector. For more than 50 years, Accion has helped tens of millions of people through our work with more than 110 partners in 50 countries. More at <a href="http://www.accion.org/">http://www.accion.org</a>

<strong>About Bancompartir</strong>

Bancompartir is one of the top four private microfinance banks in Colombia with over 1,800 employees serving 450,000 customers across 106 branches nationwide. Since 1985, Bancompartir has provided microfinance and SME financing solutions to micro entrepreneurs and other underserved segments of the population, generating opportunity for progress and quality of life improvement to thousands of families in Colombia. As of September 30, 2019, Bancompartir had a loan portfolio of USD 230 million, total deposits of USD 236 million and a book value of USD 46 million.

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Accion Marks Successful Exit from Colombia’s Bancompartir

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The Latin American Impact Investing Forum (Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto), organized by New Ventures, has positioned itself as the most important gathering of social entrepreneurship and impact investing in Latin America.

Since 2011, the FLII brings together the main actors from different sectors across the region: impact companies, corporates, investment funds, foundations, NGO's, business schools, and change makers from all around the world who come together to create innovative solutions to solve the most pressing social and environmental issues.

Learn more <a href="https://www.inversiondeimpacto.org/">here</a>.

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Fixing something that’s broken is tricky. Changing something that works is even more complicated. Banking, payments and retail in Asia are all growing, yet people and companies across the money ecosystem are actively trying to shift their businesses – driven by new consumer expectations, technology, regulation and competition. This change is more complex because different starting points and diverse goals make it harder to identify which approach fits each organization’s situation. There is no single solution.

We’ve spoken to more than 100 senior leaders delivering this change across Asia, identifying their challenges as well as where they see opportunities and strategies to win in their markets. The result: a program to help you navigate the uncharted waters we’re in. Discover the lessons and insights that can refine your game plans and learn from those already well on their way – ensuring your business will be a winner in this dynamic money landscape.

Learn more <a href="https://asia.money2020.com/">here</a>.

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