ImpactAlpha Latin America

ImpactAlpha Latin America: Investing in Latin America’s ‘silver economy’

ImpactAlpha · February 5, 2026

Saludos, Agents of Impact! 

In this month’s newsletter:

  • Investing in solutions for healthy aging
  • Amazonia Impact Ventures cuts first deal in Brazil
  • AI tools for measuring impact in financial inclusion

 ¡Empecemos! – Jessica Pothering

Solutions for healthy aging in Latin America’s silver economy. Latin America for decades has taken advantage of the demographic dividend of its young and growing population. As growth slows and that population ages, investors are turning their attention to opportunities in the region’s “silver economy.” “Older adults everywhere face barriers, like confidence and usability, but in Latin America, those challenges get amplified by regional realities,” says María Andrea Orduz of Región Plateada, an accelerator program for startups serving older adults in Latin America and the Caribbean. Región Plateada, or “silver region” in English, was launched by IDB Lab, the venture arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, and Colombia-based Fundación Arturo. 

  • Accelerating startups. Selected ventures will receive up to $100,000 in funding, along with tailored technical support. Applications for the accelerator’s second cohort are now open. The accelerator’s first cohort included Chile-based HoraSalud, which helps older adults book and cancel medical appointments online, sends reminders to reduce no-shows, and moves them up in clinic queues. In Colombia, Glia monitors chronic conditions through a modem installed in the home – no smartphone required. The company connects to medical devices and uses WhatsApp to keep the interface simple. “The most effective entrepreneurs are not just digitizing services,” Orduz says. “They’re removing friction and redesigning delivery around how older adults are actually living.”
  • VC opportunities. “It’s rare to see the silver economy addressed in impact investing circles,” says Peter Kaldes of Next50, a Denver-based foundation focused on “valuing aging.” Next50 has developed an aging-investment framework to catalyze capital for solutions that improve the economic mobility of older adults. Kaldes commended IDB Lab for deploying such capital in advance of a crisis. “Latin America is aging fast but still has time, and they’re using it,” Kaldes tells ImpactAlpha. “The US is further along demographically yet behind on capital deployment.” (Disclosure: Next50 supports ImpactAlpha’s Valuing Aging coverage.) New Ventures and IDB Lab are launching an aging initiative that Orduz says “can lead to new venture capital opportunities.”
  • Latin America Impact Investing Forum. Orduz will speak at New Ventures’ Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto, or FLII, which runs  February 24–26 in Mérida, Mexico. More than 1,000 LPs, GPs, entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders are expected to attend. The agenda spans sustainable cities, digital inclusion, artificial intelligence, climate tech and biodiversity. The silver economy is one of five topics in the conference’s “Unlocking Humanity” track. Other speakers on the panel include New Ventures’ Carolina Puerta and IDB Lab’s Isabela Echeverry. ImpactAlpha subscribers can use the code IMPACTALPHA30 for a 30% discount.

Dealflow: Conservation Finance

Amazonia Impact Ventures invests in Ecotierra’s carbon projects in Brazil. Amazonia Impact Ventures set out five years ago to restore and preserve the Amazon with investments in sustainable forest livelihoods, biodiversity projects and land stewardship among Indigenous communities. The UK-based manager has not invested in Brazil, which has the largest share of the Amazon forest – until now. ImpactAlpha has learned that Amazonia is making a $200,000 investment in Ecotierra’s project with Courageous Land, a reforestation advisory services firm, in Roraima, the northernmost state in Brazil. Ecotierra generates carbon credits through sustainable land‑use and regenerative agriculture projects that have social co-benefits, like income growth and market access for farmers and forest communities. “This approach sequesters more carbon per hectare than conventional agriculture and creates diversified income streams for local communities,” Amazonia’s team shared.

  • Market expansion. Amazonia has invested about $11 million in impact-linked loans to cooperatives, agri-producer associations and other businesses (see, “Fund managers center Indigenous communities to drive capital to the Amazon“). Most of its investments have sought to curb and redress practices that cause deforestation in Peru’s Amazon region. “We’ve always been looking to Brazil as a next step,” Amazonia’s Aldo Soto told ImpactAlpha. Ecotierra, which also has worked in Peru, is still developing the Roraima project. “They need to prove that the project works,” said Soto. “Our investment here is going to be very catalytic for them to make the next step and scale.”
  • Carbon adjacent. Ecotierra also represents Amazonia’s first foray into the carbon markets. “Most of our investments are in Amazonian value chains,” Soto said. “The investment is going directly to implementing agroforestry systems that counteract degradation and drivers of deforestation.” Amazonia’s impact measurement and management for the investment focuses on the “expansion of biodiverse agroforestry systems” across nearly 300 acres of land, and the development of a tree nursery. Among the project’s intended beneficiaries are economic migrants from Venezuela in Roraima. Amazonia says its total portfolio of projects has supported more than 5,200 smallholder farmers, 36% of whom are women and 32% are Indigenous peoples.
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Other investment news crossing our desks:

  • Circular economy. IMPAQTO Capital provided a revenue-based loan to Lima-based Cirkula, a company that resells surplus restaurant food at a discount in Peru to prevent waste… Refurbi raised $4 million to bring refurbished phone marketplace to Mexico.
  • Financing farmers. Beneficial Returns lent to agriculture companies sourcing from smallholder farmers in Latin America.
  • Green transition. Kayyak Ventures and Dalus Capital backed Enerlink to expand EV charging in Latin America.
  • Inclusive economy. Calvert Impact Capital invested $10 million in BlueOrchard’s microfinance strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean, which focuses on women, migrants and Indigenous people… Xepelin, which offers financial services for small and mid-sized enterprises in Chile, secured $20 million from Nazca Ventures and other backers as it looks to expand in Mexico. 
  • Ocean finance. IDB Invest and Finance in Motion’s LAGreen Fund invested in El Salvador’s first blue bond, issued by Bancoagrícola to finance responsible water management and marine ecosystem conservation. 

Impact Voices: Impact Management

Distinguishing between financial outcomes from financial access. Impact investors know that there’s a difference between “people served” versus “people’s lives improved.” For startups, qualitative impact data can be time consuming and costly to capture. When Mexico-based fintech lender Bkaya wanted to understand whether it was making a meaningful difference in clients’ lives, it teamed up with impact measurement firm 60 Decibels to collect impact performance metrics using AI-supported customer interviews. The findings showed that Bkaya’s credit products supported wellbeing improvements, but only when paired with thoughtful product design, Bkaya’s Alberto Gutiérrez and 60 Decibels’ Carla Grados Villamar detail in a guest post. Being able to efficiently and cost-effectively attain those insights has helped Bkaya reconfigure priorities in its product portfolio. The startup is a case study on how AI-enabled client research tools “open the door for earlier-stage fintechs and their investors to build feedback loops that inform strategy, strengthen accountability and move beyond access as the primary measure of success,” the authors say. 

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:

Nadia Scharen-Guivel, investment director at the US International Development Finance Corp., joined NESsT as an investment committee member… Climate Policy Initiative has an opening for a Latin America and Caribbean-focused financial innovation consultant… The Nature Conservancy is looking for an impact investing associate in Brazil… Root Capital is hiring an institutional philanthropy and partnerships account specialist in Costa Rica or Mexico.

MCE Social Capitalseeks an associate investment manager in Colombia… Also in Colombia, ThirdWay Partnersis looking for an investment associate, and Global Partnershipsseeks an investment director for its impact-first venture loan pool… Epic Angelsis inviting Asia- and Latin America-based startups to pitch online and in person to its network of more than 800 female angel investors, Thursday, March 5.