Overheard at Asia Venture Philanthropy Network: Seven realities of impact investing in Asia

The path to trillions of dollars in impact investing assets under management runs through Asia.

Two investors commit $200 million to inclusive Filipino lender Cashalo

Cashalo offers small loans to individuals on a mobile platform using non-traditional credit scoring methods.

OneCrop gets seed funding from Future Food Asia competition

OneCrop makes a film that farmers lay on top of soil where crops are planted that promotes crop growth and lowers water usage.

Indonesian peer-to-peer lender Julo raises $5 million for expansion

Julo connects borrowers to short-term, unsecured cash loans using an algorithm it developed to assess customers’ credit-worthiness.

Filipino edtech startup Edukasyon raises expansion funding

Funding round… KSR and French Partners, a co-investment platform based in Geneva, invested an undisclosed amount in the pre-series A round.

Can inclusion power Singapore’s fintech boom?

Central bank priority... The Monetary Authority of Singapore has made “financial inclusion” a top priority for the city-state’s fintech investment scene.
Capital gap… More than 2.9 million small- and medium-sized enterprises is Southeast Asia and Australia face a credit gap of more than $187 billion.

Pollinate Energy and Empower Generation merge to scale energy access

Realistic impact… Empower Generation and Pollinate Energy together aim to reach one million people by 2020, particularly women and girls.
The gritty details… The two organizations have merged their boards. Empower will help Pollinate recruit and train women. Pollinate will help Empower professionalize its sales and reporting processes.