Startup challenges in emerging markets

This week, we read several articles discussing the challenges that early stage startups and investors face in emerging markets.

Distribution equals development:  Announcing the D-Prize” by Andrew Youn, Founder and Director of One Acre Fund on Skoll World Forum
Distribution is one of the biggest challenges that companies working in emerging markets face. Even the most innovative and affordable technologies may struggle to find their way into the hands of the customers who … read more

Interview with David del Ser: Frogtek Update and Thoughts on the IFF

Since we first announced the Impact Factoring Fund, we’ve been working hard to help our portfolio companies take advantage of the opportunity to access working capital. One of our portfolio companies, Frogtek, is particularly excited to apply the IFF to its efforts of financing tablets for their customers in Mexico and Colombia.

Frogtek’s innovative technology is an application, Tiendatek, which allows micro shopkeepers to manage sales and inventory on their smartphone or tablet. … read more

Good News in the Portfolio

As we wrote about in a recent post, Cents and Responsibility, investors have a responsibility to entrepreneurs. The Weekly Review prior to that post highlighted the close relationship an entrepreneur must have with the investor to enable productivity and progress. We live by our own words. We have a close relationship with each of our portfolio companies and stand by them on both the highest of highs and lowest of lows.  Although we don’t
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