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Santa Cruz-based tuGerente provides digital inventory and financial management support for Bolivia’s informal and small businesses to help them streamline operations, boost capacity and secure business loans. The startup works with 1,000 small businesses and plans to expand to Peru and Mexico.
Ecuador-based Impactqo Capital provided the company with $150,000 in revenue-based financing to support its growth.
“Already positioned as a leader in Bolivia, we look forward to seeing tuGerente expand regionally and benefit thousands more small business owners around the region,” Impaqto’s Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter said in a statement.
TuGerente will make quarterly payments on the loan for up to five years, based on its income. A portion of the financing will be used to strengthen tuGerente’s impact management practices.
Financial inclusion
Impaqto chose to back tuGerente after being connected to the company by the Gender Scaling Financing Facility, which matches high-impact companies with potential investors.
The facility, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, provided a grant to study tuGerente’s impact on underserved entrepreneurs. It found that more than 40% of the company’s customers are women; more than a quarter come from low-income backgrounds. About 22% of customers have secured bank financing for their businesses since adopting tuGerente’s software.
The study provided the impact data Impaqto needed to go forward with the investment.
The Swiss agency has helped cultivate impact proof points and financing in Latin America, backing Roots of Impact’s “social impact incentives” in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Central America.
