The Swiss government launched SECO Startup Fund in 1997 to provide loans for startups in emerging markets that are Swiss development partners.
The fund has relaunched with a 5 million Swiss Franc ($6.3 million) boost to better support startups with Swiss ties fostering decent work, climate-smart capacity, and access to goods and services. Swiss impact advisory and management firm iGravity and investor and accelerator Seedstars are taking over the fund’s management from Zurich-based FinanceContact.
“We believe in the power of catalytic capital to drive inclusive growth, and this vehicle helps Swiss partnerships play a meaningful role in that story,” said SECO’s Christian Brändli.
Growth capital
The revamped fund aims to address funding gaps for post-revenue startups, which make up the backbone of emerging market economies yet are often overlooked by traditional investors (for background see, “Now’s the time to be an emerging markets debt investor”). It will provide flexible senior secured loans up to 1,000,000 Swiss Francs ($1.2 million), with loan terms of two to five years.
The SECO Startup Fund fund has disbursed more $44 million in over 120 countries. The fund’s portfolio includes Kenya’s eWaka, which offers electric bikes and battery-swap services, Gebana Afrique in Burkina Faso, which processes and exports dried mango and cashew nuts to European markets, Swiss Fresh Water which leases water filters to locals running water kiosks, Kenyan waste recycler TakaTaka Solutions and Uganda’s Bioconvision, which produces animal feed and fertilizers from organic waste.
