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Saludos, Agents of Impact! Welcome to the final ImpactAlpha Latin America newsletter of 2024.
🌎 Latin beat. We had a hunch when we launched ImpactAlpha Latin America this year that Latin America was poised for an impact takeoff. The growing ecosystem of LPs and GPs, the accelerating dealflow for innovative founders and fund managers, and the sheer enthusiasm of the region’s Agents of Impact signaled that Latin America was the right place for ImpactAlpha’s first regional edition. We were delighted by the warm reception from the region’s vibrant ecosystems, including FLII, New Ventures, Alterna, Latimpacto, Aliança pelo Impacto, Pro Mujer, Impaqto and GSG NAB Chile, who have been true partners in plugging us into their networks both to gather the news and to share it out broadly.
Our hunch has more than proved out as we’ve worked the Latin America beat. We could feel the pulse of activity at the FLIIs in Mexico and Guatemala, the GLI Forum Latam in Buenos Aires, Platform for Social Impact in San Juan and Impact Minds in Oaxaca. We could see it building as we spotlighted impact ecosystems in Brazil, Chile, Puerto Rico and Central America. We met family offices, fund managers and female entrepreneurs, seasoned players and new entrants who are capitalizing on the region’s tremendous assets to meet its urgent challenges. Over the year, we have pushed out a dozen newsletters, surfaced more than 100 impact investments and fundraises and published more than a dozen op-eds from practitioners, thought leaders and Agents of Impact like you.
And the Latin beat goes on. Let’s take a look back at this year’s coverage for signals of what’s to come in 2025.
¡Empecemos! – Dennis Price and Jessica Pothering
Featured: Looking ahead to 2025
Nine storylines to watch:
1. Latin America’s impact ecosystem is primed for takeoff. Impact investors have built a robust Latin American ecosystem of asset owners, fund managers, entrepreneurial support and policy expertise as impact assets under management and venture capital and other investments in the region have surged in the past decade. Keep reading.
2. The push and pull of impact investing for wealthy families. The push: Next-gen family members nudging previous generations to tilt family portfolios toward impact. The pull: Large, overlooked markets, ample opportunities to mitigate risks, and a growing set of investable impact products and funds. The number of wealthy families with allocations for impact investments is increasing across Latin America. Go deeper.
3. Going big by going niche: How one fund manager is specializing for deeper impact. Many impact fund managers seek scale by raising ever-bigger funds. To deepen its impact, Mexico City-based New Ventures is instead going niche, with specialized financing products for companies tackling specific challenges. Keep reading.
4. An overlooked source of climate solutions: Female entrepreneurs. Biodegradable plastics made from invasive sargassum algae. Seaweed-based biofibers that can decarbonize global fashion. Water-insulated panels and other nature-based construction materials. Female entrepreneurs from Mexico to Chile and back up to Brazil are leveraging Latin America’s vast natural resources – and deep scientific know-how – to develop and deploy climate solutions. Take a look.
5. Path to growth in Brazil runs through the impact economy (videos). Thousands of visitors descend on São Paulo each year for the Feira Preta festival, the largest Black cultural and entrepreneurship event in Latin America. Founder Adriana Barbosa has over two decades grown Feira Preta, or Black Fair, into a platform that has helped plug more than 10,000 Black and Indigenous creative entrepreneurs into the Brazilian economy. Have a look.
6. Families and fund managers tilting Chile’s startup ecosystem toward impact. The term “impact” doesn’t yet have wide recognition in Chile, but as a startup culture takes hold, investors are finding that many of the new investment opportunities include an impact lens. Check it out.
7. Putting Central America, and the Caribbean, on the impact investing map.There wasn’t much to look at in terms of impact activity in Central America back in 2015. That’s when Daniel Buchbinder, founder of Guatemala-based business services company Alterna, approached New Ventures about launching an edition of its Latin American Impact Investment Forum in Antigua. Catch up quickly.
8. Puerto Rico is mobilizing billions for economic mobility. Puerto Rico has a window in which to turn disaster recovery into economic revival. “We didn’t choose it, but this is our time,” declares Eduardo Carrera, founder of Platform for Social Impact, which aims to steer capital to Puerto Rico’s social infrastructure. Go deeper.
9. Investors see economic opportunities through a gender lens. In the pursuit of women’s economic empowerment, “Pro Mujer will not yield,” declared Pro Mujer’s Carmen Correa to open this year’s GLI Forum Latam. On the gender-lens agenda: More women in leadership roles, more gender-smart fund strategies and more financial innovation to bring more women into the formal economy. Have a look.
Agents of Impact: The Dealmakers
- Agents of Impact building solutions for underserved markets in Central America and the Caribbean. Agents of Impact who are coming back to Central America and the Caribbean, or who never left, are building fintech, e-commerce and other solutions for the region’s underserved markets. Kura’s Stephanie Joseph is easing remittances to Central America and the Caribbean. Gabriela Madrigal Morera of El Mercado del Pollo is creating good jobs through food. Stevon Darling of ONEST Financial is expanding access to banking. And Vitrinnea’s Julio Javier Pastore is building an online market for second hand goods. Keep reading.
- These investors are finding opportunities and doing deals (videos). How will more investors increase their allocations of capital to Latin American impact funds and ventures scale up? One by one. “We think it’s an incredible opportunity that’s been often overlooked by much of the global impact investment ecosystem,” Sonen Capital Raúl Pomares says in a video interview with ImpactAlpha. The interviews are part of ImpactAlpha’s series from this year’s FLII in Merída, Mexico, including with Pomares colleague Sandra Sainz, FLII’s Carolina Puerta, Rogelio de los Santos of Dalus Capital, Elena Amato of Community Investment Management, Paulina Macías Romero of Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa, and Najada Kumbuli of Visa Foundation.Collect the full set.
- These fund managers are seeking alpha in climate tech, edtech and impact (videos). From Mexico through Central America’s Northern Triangle to Chile and Argentina, fund managers in Latin America are finding overlooked opportunities for impact – and returns – in the region. Christian Quiñones of Innogen Capital is backing impact startups in Central America’s Northern Triangle (video interview). Aldo Soto of Amazonia Impact Ventures is providing sustainability-linked loans to indigenous producers in the Amazon (video interview). Andres Baehr of Savia Ventures is unlocking Latin America’s climate tech opportunity (video interview). Justin Schwartz of Impaqto Capital delivers revenue-based finance for Andean impact businesses (video interview). View them all.
Dealflow: Equity, Debt and Alt-Capital
A sample of 2024 investments, fundraises and other dealmaking:
- Catalytic investors mobilize $300 million in ‘debt for nature swap’ in the Bahamas. Check it out.
- With social trade loans, Citi aims to boost small business lending in Panama and El Salvador. Learn more.
- With investment in Colombia, Circulate Capital brings growth capital to plastics recycling in Latin America. Full details.
- Mercy Corp Ventures highlights opportunities for climate resilience in Latin America. Full story.
- Mexico’s Popular Power raises capital to help solar companies manage their asset performance. More.
- First-time manager Amplifica Capital demonstrates its gender thesis with 25 deals and counting. Go deeper.
- Jeeves secures $75 million to expand cross-border payments in Latin America. Read more.
- Global Innovation Lab gets creative about nature-based finance in Latin America. Full story.
- Mexico’s Savia Ventures backs Chilean alt-protein startup Done Properly. Check it out.
- Blue Like an Orange provides $18 million in financing to Mexican lender Fuentebuena. Go deeper.
- ‘Missing middle’ lending to social enterprises in Latin America. Read more – and watch ImpactAlpha’s interview with NESsT’s Chad Sachs.
Impact Voices: Moving Capital
Why 2025 will be a year transformation for Latin America’s impact ecosystem. “2025 will be a year of opportunity and transformation,” Latimpacto’s Carolina Suárez writes in a forward-looking guest post for ImpactAlpha. With innovative financial mechanisms, a growing focus on nature-based solutions, and the increasing integration of diverse stakeholders, says Suárez, “the region is well-positioned to make significant strides in advancing the SDGs.” Read the full post.
More guest posts from 2024:
Deploying capital
- “Latin American family offices add investing tools to their philanthropic toolkits,” by Latimpacto’s Manuela Jiménez.
- “How corporations are building impact strategies in Latin America,” by Latimpacto’s Juanita Nuñez Betancourt and Carolina Suárez.
- “How Fundación Bancolombia invests in Colombia’s small businesses for rural economic development,” by Fundación Bancolombia’s María Fernanda Díaz.
- “Five reasons Latin America and the Caribbean are attracting impact investors,” by Latimpacto’s Carolina Suárez.
Blending capital
- “Why Beta Impacto combined as venture capital and an NGO to scale impact in Latin America,” by Beta Impacto’s Matías Kelly.
- “Designing catalytic loan products for impact companies in Latin America,” by Alberto Gómez-Obregón of CO_Capital.
- “How Estímulo is blending finance for Brazil’s small businesses,” by Estímulo’s Lucas Conrado.
- “How Vox Capital diversified across asset classes to meet impact investor demand,” by Vox Capital’s Daniel Izzo and Daniel Brandão.
- “In Brazil, ‘empathetic capital’ is helping preserve investee impact and investor returns,” by Bruno Girardi of Sitawi Finance for Good.
- “How fintechs are bridging the gender-based financing gap in Latin America,” by Alive Ventures’ Alan Pierce.
Managing capital
- “Using data to mitigate risk perceptions of impact investing in Latin America and the Caribbean,” by Latimpacto’s Manuela Jiménez.
- “Measuring impact by listening to smallholder farmers at scale in Latin America,” by Camila Aguilar of Fundación Alpina.
Natural capital
- “Unlocking billion-dollar opportunities in Latin America’s nature-based economy,” by Latimpacto’s Manuela Jimenez.
- “Investing in life vs. tech: Lifting up nature-based solutions for ecosystems and communities,” by SVX Mexico’s Laura Ortiz Montemayor.
- “Peru’s path to inclusive prosperity runs through biodiversity and social innovation,” by Aldo Soto of Amazonia Impact Ventures and Marisela Vega of Aliados de Impacto.
Get in the Game
🤝 Meet Up
Save the date for these 2025 impact investing events:
- Feb. 25-27: Latin American Impact Investment Forum (Mérida)
- Mar. 12-14: Regenerative Investment Summit for Latin America (Bogotá)
- Jun. 4-5: Latin American Impact Investing Summit, or CLIIQ (Quito)
- Aug. 31 -Sept. 3: Latimpacto’s Impact Minds (Medellín)
