MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Quona Capital Management Raises $141m for Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund from Chase, MaserCard, AXA, Prudential, MetLife

Quona Capital Management, which is based in the US city of Washington, recently announced that it has raised USD 141 million from multiple investors for the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund (AFIF), a fund backed by the US-based nonprofit Accion and managed by Quona Capital. The participating funders are US-based corporates including JP Morgan Chase & Co., MasterCard, Prudential Financialand MetLife as well as AXA Impact Fund, which is managed by France-based AXA. AFIF will focus the new funds toward the technology, logistics and financial services sectors with the aim of creating employment and financial access for financially underserved and low-income populations. The companies that have already received investments from AFIF are active in the data analytics, mobile payments and financial services sectors in India, Mexico and the Philippines.

Accion, the primary funder of AFIF, reports – along with its partner microbanks – an aggregate loan portfolio of USD 7.9 billion serving 6 million borrowers as of 2015. As of 2016, Accion reported total assets of USD 351 million.

Quona Capital, an Accion spinoff, seeks to make financial products and services affordable and accessible to consumers in emerging markets. Financial data for the firm are not available.

By Phoebe Rorke, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

Bloomberg:
Quona Capital Raises $141 Million for Financial Inclusion

MicroCapital:
Accion Venture Lab Sells Equity Stake in Clip, Provider of Payment-card Readers to Retailers in Mexico

Quona Capital Management Ltd:
Quona Capital

Accion:
Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund

Accion

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