Ventures

Entrepreneurs around the world are deploying disruptive business models and transformative technologies to solve the biggest challenges of our time. Simultaneously, we believe that the next generation of highly-scalable and commercially successful startups will evolve in emerging markets to confront these challenges. However, they are often undercapitalised and don’t have access to the resources they need for their ventures to survive.

Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) is an impact-first, early-stage investor, using catalytic capital and targeted support to fuel startups growth and help them realize their vision. Founded in 2016 as the venture capital arm of Mercy Corps, we’ve supported 30+ ventures to scale and raise over $100 million in follow-on capital. Our portfolio centers around solutions that build climate resilience and financial resilience in frontier markets, so that people have the agency and dignity to withstand disruption, plan for the future, and thrive. Through targeted support, strategic collaborations, and insight sharing, we further catalyze the ecosystem towards smarter, more impactful investments.

MCV is the founder of FinX, an initiative designed to reimagine the financial system with the world’s most vulnerable at the centre of its design. FinX’s goal is to accelerate global financial inclusion by advancing innovative, responsible distributed ledgers, digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and other digital financial solutions that help people join the global economy and lift themselves out of poverty and create a roadmap for an inclusive financial system.

MCV also managed the Innovation Investment Alliance, a funding collaborative between USAID’s Global Development Lab and the Skoll Foundation that granted over $50 million to eight, proven social enterprises and generates the Scaling Pathways series with insights on how to scale social impact.