Capria has launhed Capria Emerging Managers Fund, a $100m fund that will invest in equity and debt funds targeting early-stage impact businesses across Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

“Capria’s goal is to empower the next generation of fund managers in emerging economies by leveraging nearly two decades of Unitus’ institutional knowledge, data and networks in successfully generating market returns while creating impact”, said Will Poole, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Capria.

“The Capria Emerging Managers Fund will invest in the best teams emerging from our pioneering Capria Accelerator program,” he said.

Capria Emerging Managers Fund is managed by Capria Ventures and is based in Seattle.

In the next five years, the fund plans to invest in at least 15 impact funds, significantly expanding Capria Network’s global reach.

By 2025, Capria’s efforts are expected to unlock over $500m in local and global capital to invest in businesses that will cumulatively serve more than 5 million low-income people across diverse emerging economies.

In addition, Capria  has partnered with two impact fund managers: Alitheia Identity, investing in women-led businesses across Africa, and idacapital, investing in technology & innovation in Turkey.

International Finance Corporation, a division of the World Bank; Ceniarth, a family office based in London; and Sorenson Impact Foundation, a global impact investor joined Bill Gates and others as financial supporters of Capria Accelerator.

“The International Finance Corporation has been focused on impactful economic development in emerging economies for decades,” said Atul Mehta, Global Director of Private Equity for IFC.

“There is a dearth of managers serving the small and medium enterprises that are engines of growth in these economies. We’re glad to see Capria focused on building capacity with the best new fund managers through their Accelerator, and now also establishing a facility to make substantial investments in the funds they help create, addressing the global ‘missing middle’,” he said.

Capria announced its initial fund manager partnerships in April 2016: three impact fund management teams from Zimbabwe, Uganda and Guatemala.

Overall, 90 fund managers across 45 countries have applied to participate in the second cohort planned for Q3 2016.

Capria Accelerator is the first global business accelerator for impact fund managers. 

Capria Accelerator was founded in 2015 by the co-founders of Unitus Seed Fund, an impact venture seed fund in India.

Capria Accelerator is backed by Unitus, a pioneer in incubating financial services firms that address global problems with innovative, market-driven solutions.