Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment division of nonprofit Accion, recently raised new $ 23 million financing for young, inclusive fintech companies. Specifically, Accion Venture Labs will increase all of its capital by $ 33 million, with an additional $ 10 million from a direct investment from Accion.

As per the company release, inclusive fintech startups is defined as ventures that “that leverage technology to increase the reach, quality, and affordability of financial services for the under-served at scale.”

Additional funding was provided by several contributors, including Proparco, Visa Inc., Blue Haven Impact Assets Giving Initiative, MetLife Foundation, Heifer Foundation and Ford Foundation, among others. The total funds representing the entire Accion Venture Lab capital base, with this new funding, reached $ 42 million.

Vikas Raj, managing director of Accion Venture Labs, said, “This new capital pool allows us to intensify our efforts and remain at the forefront of the investment stage by investing in inclusive fintech.” He also said, “There is great potential for inclusive financial technology startups to reach historically unprivileged communities while generating returns, and the oversubscription of Accion Venture Lab is an excellent validation of our early investments in more than 40 innovative businesses. operating in 30 markets.”

Accion Venture Lab doesn’t have regional investment quotas, but does look to allocate roughly 25 to 30% of its funds to Africa. The executive director, Tahira Dosani, spoke about the geographical interests on the venture. According to Tahira Dosani: “We want to continue to focus on Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and the United States. It’s really … where we see the needs and opportunities in the markets in which we are.”