Catalyst Fund has added five financial technology startups to its seed stage portfolio.
The ventures include: Comunidad4Uno, a financial services provider for Mexico’s low-income domestic workers; Grafica, a software developer for off-grid solar distributors in Africa; Harvesting, an agriculture analytics software firm; PayLatr, a mobile-based micro lender for low-income Indians; and Smile Identity, an identity verification service based on facial recognition software.
The $2 million seed stage venture fund was launched in 2015 as a partnership between the Gates Foundation and JP Morgan to support pre-investment emerging markets entrepreneurs.
Catalyst Fund’s portfolio now includes 15 startups, each of which are provided $100,000 grants and mentorship.
