ASIEx aims to unlock capital for high-impact investments across Africa, focusing on improving access to financing for underserved groups, promoting sustainable development, and addressing sector-specific market failures.
The Catalytic Pooled Fund (CPF) is a $200 million initiative developed by the Africa Social Impact Exchange (ASIEx) to drive capital towards high-impact projects across Africa. It serves as a non-traditional investment vehicle, pooling concessional and private capital to catalyze large-scale funding into sectors critical for Africa’s development. By focusing on impact-oriented, mission-aligned investments, the CPF seeks to bridge gaps in financing for underserved markets and foster sustainable growth.
The CPF uses concessional capital—funds provided at below-market rates by mission-aligned donors and development organizations—to enhance the risk-return profile of investments, thereby attracting private investors who might otherwise perceive these opportunities as too high-risk. Concessional capital can be deployed in the form of first-loss capital, guarantees, or subordinated debt, reducing potential losses for private investors and encouraging their participation in high-impact investments.
The African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) plays a strategic role in CPF by connecting a network of African philanthropists, investors, and social impact organizations. AVPA supports CPF through its extensive stakeholder network, advocacy, and capacity-building initiatives, which help attract and align diverse funding sources. Additionally, AVPA collaborates with ASIEx to ensure CPF investments align with Africa’s most pressing development needs.
ASIEx CPF blends concessional funding with market-rate capital, using instruments like grants, subordinated debt, and guarantees to mobilize private investments in social sectors.
The CPF is open to a variety of investors, including impact investors, development finance institutions (DFIs), philanthropic organizations, and private investors seeking both financial returns and social impact. Participants benefit from de-risked investments, access to high-growth markets, and the opportunity to contribute to Africa’s sustainable development. The CPF structure also provides regular impact reporting and offers co-investment opportunities, allowing investors to diversify and deepen their engagement.
By mobilizing blended capital, the CPF provides growth-stage companies with the flexible and patient financing they need to scale. The fund targets sectors and projects that are often underserved due to high perceived risks or limited financing options, such as SMEs and social enterprises. This approach helps to fill the “missing middle” in financing and enables growth-stage companies to expand and contribute to economic development.
CPF prioritizes sectors with high potential for social and economic impact, including healthcare, education, climate resilience, food security, and infrastructure. These sectors align with Africa’s development priorities and present opportunities for significant, positive change across underserved communities.
CPF addresses market frictions by creating a centralized platform that aggregates diverse capital sources and investment opportunities. Through knowledge sharing, transparency, and standardized impact reporting, CPF reduces information asymmetry. The platform’s structure through its deal share platform also encourages coordinated investments across the capital continuum, enhancing the flow and efficient allocation of capital.
CPF fosters partnerships across the investment and impact ecosystems, including with DFIs, private investors, local enterprises, and government bodies. These partnerships support capacity-building, regulatory advocacy, and co-investment opportunities, enabling a collaborative approach to solving development challenges. By working with both local and global partners, CPF amplifies resources and accelerates progress toward Africa’s sustainable development goals.
ASIEx works with intermediaries (e.g., PEs, VCs, commercial banks) to scale impact by leveraging their infrastructure and reducing risk for private investors.
The CPF primarily targets underserved populations in Africa, including women, youth, refugees, and internally displaced persons. The fund aims to improve their access to social and physical infrastructure, critical goods and services, economic opportunities, and environmental sustainability.
CPF promotes collaboration by organizing forums, workshops, and roundtables where African and international investors, policymakers, and social enterprises can exchange insights and best practices. AVPA and ASIEx facilitate these knowledge-sharing initiatives, ensuring a continuous flow of information and fostering a collaborative environment that strengthens the impact investment field.
The CPF aims to mobilize private capital and achieve a leverage target of up to 10x.
Participating in the pilot phase offers early access to the platform’s investment pipeline and the opportunity to help shape ASIEx’s approach. Early investors may also gain priority or favorable terms in future funding rounds and could influence sectoral or regional focus areas as the platform scales.
The CPF takes on high-risk positions with below-market return expectations, allowing it to provide affordable capital and de-risk investments. By doing so, it encourages private capital to flow into impactful projects that might otherwise be considered too risky.
The CPF targets a total vehicle size of $200 million, deploying funds directly and through intermediaries, with a phased approach that starts with a $5 million pilot.
Yes, investors can join after the pilot phase. ASIEx plans to expand funding windows and scale investment opportunities as it moves beyond the pilot stage, allowing new investors to participate in later rounds based on capital needs and strategic alignment.
The CPF uses a comprehensive monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework. It tracks various impact indicators across economic, social, and inclusion metrics, including the number of direct and indirect jobs created, CO2 emissions mitigated, women empowered, youth employed, etc.
The ASIEx platform is currently in the pilot phase, with an initial launch in 2024. Full operationalization, including scaling investments across targeted regions and sectors, is planned to occur over the next 12-18 months, subject to fundraising success.
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