Qishin Tariq · · 2 min readSeedstars secures $20m for second seed-stage fund
Seedstars has announced the first close of its second seed-stage fund for emerging markets, raising US$20 million from investors including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Visa Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Symbiotics.
(From left) Seedstars co-founders Charlie Graham-Brown, Michael Weber, Alisée de Tonnac, and Pierre-Alain Masson / Photo credit: Seedstars
The Seedstars International Ventures II fund aims to invest in 100 pre-seed and seed-stage companies across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa region over the next three years. It provides follow-on investments up to the series A stage.
These investments will focus on companies with scalable technology in sectors such as finance, commerce, health, work, and education.
Seedstars partner Charlie Graham-Brown said that the investment firm has strategies in place to mitigate risk, which include “country diversification, portfolio construction strategy, and value creation platform.”
The first Seedstars International Ventures fund invested in 81 companies across over 30 countries. Among the startups it invested in are Pakistani B2B marketplace Dastgyr, Saudi Arabia-based foodtech startup Foodics, and Indonesia-based jobs platform MyRobin.
The VC also aims to improve gender equity through its investments, with 26% of its first fund’s portfolio consisting of businesses co-founded by women. A study by the IFC revealed that only 11% of women-led enterprises in emerging markets receive seed funding.
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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