Cusi sources quinoa, yucca, green plantains, cocoa and other local plants for its line of healthy snack foods from 60 smallholder farmers and their families in Ecuador’s highlands and in the Amazon. The woman-led company processes the foods into crackers, tortillas and baking ingredients for sale locally and for international export. Cusi’s goal is to support sustainable livelihoods for local farmers and encourage regenerative agriculture, while also encouraging good nutrition.
Impact investor IMPAQTO provided a revenue-based loan to the B Corp. to ramp up production at its facility.
IMPAQTO Capital is the investment arm of the Quito-based impact accelerator and ecosystem builder. It provides flexible, revenue-based finance to impact companies that are too small for institutional equity financing or bank debt in the Andean region, including Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
“As a local fund, we know the entrepreneurs well, we know the ecosystem well,” IMPAQTO’s Justin Schwartz told ImpactAlpha in a video interview. “We can be one of the first checks and help those companies have more visibility at the regional and global level.”
In February, IMPAQTO extended a loan to Peruvian recycling company Sinba.
