Tribal, a B2B payments and financing platform for emerging markets, has launched Tribal Ventures, a new fund that will offer equity financing for early-stage fintech companies. The fund is specifically designed to support projects that share Tribal’s mission to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) thrive in emerging markets. Tribal Ventures will provide qualifying startups across the globe with investments of up to USD 250,000.
In 2021, according to a recent report, global fintech startups raised USD 132 billion in funding which accounted for 21 percent of all venture dollars deployed that year. As a group, fintechs closed the highest number of early-stage deals in any industry. Tribal Ventures is designed to further support these early-stage SMBs in a time of major growth, helping fintechs across the world focus on impact through innovation.
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“We created Tribal Ventures to help build an ecosystem that addresses a broader group of entrepreneurs with a more robust support system and set of resources,” said Christine Chang, Tribal’s Head of Corporate Development and Ventures, who will be leading this initiative. “The B2B space is the next frontier in terms of what venture-backed startups can solve. We’re excited to invest in the best founders in this space, including crypto companies.”
Although there are no geographic limitations on which startups can apply, Tribal Ventures will support startups that also aim to support SMBs in emerging markets.
“Tribal Ventures is focused on supporting companies that leverage blockchain technology to provide emerging market SMBs faster, easier, and more efficient access to financial services,” said Mohamed Elkasstawi, Chief Strategy Officer at Tribal.
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“New use-cases are emerging every day and Tribal is here to support that innovation.”
Tribal Ventures is not Tribal’s first show of support for blockchain technology. Most recently, Tribal announced a partnership with Visa to provide SMBs in the Latin American and Caribbean regions with increased access to both traditional and decentralized financial (DeFi) tools. Before that, in January 2022, Tribal also completed the first-ever USD 40 million hybrid debt round combining stablecoins and fiat and began leveraging stablecoins to create a faster and more affordable mechanism for cross-border payments.
In traditional funding, Tribal closed its Series B this February, raising USD 60 million to support the continued development and expansion of its suite of financial services to help Latin American SMBs.
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