Venture: Proximity Finance
Investment: $1M loan
Portfolio: Scaling Capital
Investment date: December 2019
Region(s) served: Asia and Pacific Islands
Sector: Financial Inclusion
Core Impact Metric: Increased farmer income
How a subordinated loan helped crowd in investment and test a novel strategy for financing farmers in Myanmar
Proximity Finance works to increase the incomes of rural smallholder farmers in Myanmar by reducing their barriers to accessing credit. Rather than farmers having no access to credit, or taking on expensive loans from money lenders, Proximity Finance offers credit to farmers pre-harvest, when they need it most.
Why Rippleworks Invested:
International funders are hesitant to fund organizations in Myanmar given the country’s history of political instability. As Proximity scaled their operations, they required more patient, risk tolerant capital to cover $13 million in critical debt funding, which would expand their loan portfolio and refinance existing, mature funding.