IFC launches $225M Platform to Fund Tech Startups in Pakistan & Africa

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank has come up with $225 million venture capital platform helping startups in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan. This platform will help build a digital economy in these countries. According to IFC, it will make equity and “equity-like” investments in tech startups to help them grow into scalable ventures.

Other than this, the institution will create a sector agonistic platform that will work with other members of the World Bank and will make regulatory reforms along with individual analyses of each sector to conclude changes that will help the growth of the venture capital ecosystem in these regions.

To make this project a success, IFC will try to get capital from other development institutions and the private sector as well. Currently, it has received $50 million in backing from the Blended Finance Facility of the International Development Association’s Private Sector Window, which will make investment in low-income countries easier.

While telling about this, Makhtar Diop, IFC’s managing director said:

“Support for entrepreneurship and digital transformation is essential to economic growth, job creation, and resilience,” FC’s Venture Capital Platform will help tech companies and entrepreneurs to expand during a time of capital shortage, creating scalable investment opportunities and backing countries’ efforts to build transformative tech ecosystems. We want to help develop homegrown innovative solutions that are not only relevant to emerging countries but can also be exported to the rest of the world,” 

By getting a small percentage of global capital funding, IFC wants to bridge the gap in IT development in these sectors which were deprived of it in past due to finances. This new platform is an addition to the IFC’s Startup Catalyst Program, which was previously launched as an effort to tap tech ecosystems in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Pakistan.

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