The Multilateral Investment Fund approved up to $3.7 million in investment capital and $75,000 for technical assistance for a fund to support of technology-based competitive companies in Brazil.
Resources will be managed by CRP Companhia de Participações, founded in 1981 by a group of companies and development banks in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The CRP Venture Fund for Competitive Technology-based Companies will be based in Brazil andregulated by the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários.CRP Venture expects to also include among its investors Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos-FINEP, pension funds and other private investors. The fund’s projected maximum capital will be R$50 million (approximately $16 million) over an 11-year maximum lifetime.
The fund will provide equity and convertible debt financing, financial and technical advisory services, and value-added governance to approximately 20 early-stage companies focused on technological innovation located in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil.
“The fund intends to help close the gap for small and mid-size growing companies in Brazil that currently have no access to long term financing, and to collaborate in increasing SMEs operating standards,” said MIF team leader Susana Garcia-Robles. “CRP Venture plans to invest mainly in the segments of information technology, biotechnology, fine chemistry, precision mechanics, plastics technology and agro industry.”
The CRP Venture Fund is expected to increase competitiveness and innovation among technology-based SMEs, and generate employment. It will also further the development of the venture capital industry in Brazil, providing examples of how the financing of early-stage companies through venture capital produces an impact on the growth and organization of these companies.
MIF is an autonomous fund of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, which promotes private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean through investments and grants.