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Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
Grants, VC funds, accelerators, and competitions for African entrepreneurs.
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N/A — AGF provides guarantees to banks; SME loan size set by partner bank
Accion Ventures (rebranded from Accion Venture Lab in 2025) is a $61.6M early-stage fintech fund investing in startups that provide financial services to underserved populations. The fund writes checks up to $1M and targets up to 30 new investments globally, with significant Africa allocation. Recent African investments include PaidHR (Nigeria) and Flowcart (Kenya).
Access to bank loans otherwise denied (50–75% risk-sharing guarantee)
Longer loan tenors enabled by guarantee backing
Capacity development: financial planning and market analysis advisory via partner banks
Higher guarantee coverage for women-owned SMEs (AFAWA G4G programme)
Coverage across 44 African countries through 256+ partner financial institutions
Fitch AA-rated guarantees enabling Basel capital relief for partner banks
Inclusive Fintech
Digital financial products and platforms that expand access to financial services for underserved populations — payments, lending, savings, insurance
Payroll & HR Tech for Financial Inclusion
Platforms that formalize employment and enable access to financial services through payroll infrastructure (e.g., PaidHR in Nigeria)
Agricultural Finance
Tech-enabled agricultural input financing, insurance, and financial services for smallholder farmers (e.g., Apollo Agriculture, Pula)
SME Financial Services
Digital lending, banking, and financial management tools for small and medium enterprises (e.g., Lula in South Africa)
B2B guarantee institution — does not fund startups directly. Works with 256+ African banks and financial institutions to de-risk SME lending. SMEs apply to an AGF-affiliated bank in their country; AGF's guarantee enables the bank to approve the loan. $6.5B mobilized for 50,500+ SMEs across 44 countries.
Mentorship from partners, sector expertise, access to professional networks and distribution partnerships, connections to LPs (Mastercard, Ford Foundation, FMO, Proparco).
Referral-based deal flow means cold applications are unlikely to succeed. Check that Accion Ventures (not a different Accion vehicle) is the right fit for your stage and sector.
Accion Venture Lab/Accion Ventures has historically positioned itself as a first institutional investor in inclusive fintech. Founders that fit best appear to show a clear path to serving underserved users at scale, not just a generic fintech story. This was stated by managing director Tahira Dosani in TechCrunch’s 2019 fund-launch coverage.; Portfolio examples suggest Accion responds well to embedded-finance and distribution-led models that leverage existing trust channels. In TechCrunch’s 2021 Lami coverage, Accion backed Lami’s B2B2C insurance API model because it embedded insurance inside businesses customers already trusted.; Applicants should be ready to demonstrate both impact and business mechanics. Apollo Agriculture’s TechCrunch profile shows the kinds of details Accion-backed companies communicate well: unit of service, target underserved segment, how revenue is earned, customer traction, and why tech/data create an edge.; Post-investment support seems to matter to Accion. A reposted LinkedIn testimonial from Moffin founder Santiago Aceves says Accion Ventures’ support 'goes far beyond capital' and included access to knowledge, networks, and participation in Accion’s Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance program at Harvard Business School. Founders should likely view the relationship as hands-on and be prepared to engage.
2012
Active Since
Yes
Deploying