IFC Aims to Spur Innovation in Emerging Markets

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, plans to double to $1 billion its portfolio of venture capital investments over the next two years to support technology entrepreneurs and accelerate innovation in emerging markets.

The increase, announced at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit here, includes $500 million in direct investments as well as $150 million in technology VC fund managers.

These investments will be made to support entrepreneurs at various stages of development—including businesses that haven’t yet reached the seed-investment stage, said Nikunj Jinsi, IFC’s global head of venture capital.

“Today, growing use of smartphones, sensors, and big data is spurring generational change in sectors like healthcare and education, allowing entrepreneurship to thrive in frontier markets,” Jinsi said.

“To encourage these developments, IFC will substantially step up its funding efforts to support innovative businesses and early-stage fund managers, with the intent to support innovation ecosystems and new opportunities for growth such as digital health, new age education systems, and mobile services.”

IFC’s VC group aims to promote innovative technologies that can have transformative impact on people’s lives—by lowering costs and expanding access to essential goods and services in emerging markets. It focuses on several key technology sectors—including health, education, financial services, energy efficiency, and consumer internet. Through this group, IFC has developed a portfolio of direct equity investments in startups in every region of the developing world, in addition to a growing number of investments as a limited partner in VC funds.

Companies in IFC’s VC portfolio include Andela, a Nigerian education company; Portea, an Indian healthcare company; Planet Labs, a satellite imagery company; Hepsiburada, a Turkish consumer internet company; and Souq.com, a Middle Eastern consumer internet company.

IFC has been a leader in spurring innovation through technology in emerging markets. One example is TechEmerge, a recently launched first-of-its-kind matchmaking program that connects tech startups from around the world with larger corporations in emerging markets to conduct local pilot projects and build commercial partnerships.