Institutional investors are emerging as a critical source of capital, with pension funds and insurers committing larger tickets to blended transactions targeting renewable energy, energy efficiency, and agriculture. In 2024, commitments from these investors rose from just $2 million in 2022 to $1.6 billion, highlighting the growing role fund and asset managers are playing in blended finance.
Convergence’s Blended Finance Accelerator for Fund Managers (A4FM), an initiative funded by Global Affairs Canada, aims to strengthen the capacity of fund and asset managers to participate in blended finance by equipping them with tailored training, grant funding, and acceleration assistance required to structure and launch blended finance solutions.
This first Call for Proposals demonstrated strong demand from fund and asset managers for the holistic support the Accelerator and Convergence offer. The submissions reflect a broad diversity of strategies and levels of maturity, with proposals spanning early-stage concepts through to more advanced vehicles approaching market readiness. The majority of applications propose fund structures, underscoring growing interest in scalable investment vehicles.
Following a competitive review process, the proposals that stood out demonstrated strong additionality in mobilizing private and institutional capital into markets and sectors where capital is not flowing at scale on commercial terms alone. These fund and asset managers are using catalytic capital in the form of first-loss, guarantees, and technical assistance to de-risk and mobilize capital from local pensions, insurers, and global corporations.
Across different regions and asset classes, these proposals use blended finance to address specific barriers faced by investors, such as currency risk, perceived credit risk, early-stage business models, limited exit pathways, or regulatory constraints through blended structures. Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) investing emerged as a major theme across proposals, reflecting the significant financing gap facing SMEs in developing countries.
Semi-Finalists for the First Call for Proposals
A sub-set of the vehicles below, listed in alphabetical order, will move to the Investment Committee stage.
Àrgentil Investment Fund (ÀSIF) L.P. by Àrgentil Capital Management Limited
A growth-oriented private equity fund investing in SMEs in Nigeria, Ghana, and other West African countries through a mix of hard-currency and local-currency equity strategies.
Ashmore Impact Loan Strategy by Ashmore Group plc
A structured private credit strategy investing mainly alongside multilateral development bank-originated loans, complemented by selective direct private credit exposures in emerging markets.
DFP Africa Mobility Innovation Fund (AMIF) by Double Feather Partners, Inc.
A blended finance venture fund investing in early-stage mobility and logistics solutions that support low-carbon transport and inclusive economic activity in Africa.
EMIF Group Fund by EMIF Group
A blended finance equity fund that bridges the critical gap between feasibility and bankability in urban infrastructure projects across emerging markets.
EG Economic Empowerment Fund L.P. (EG-EEF) by EG Capital G.P.
A blended finance mezzanine debt fund supporting climate adaptation-focused SMEs, with a strong emphasis on gender inclusion, job creation, and intra-Africa regional trade across least developed countries (LDCs).
Farmties Fund 1 by Farmties Capital Limited
A revolving working capital investment vehicle financing export-oriented agricultural SMEs across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Urapi2 by Ecotierra Inc. Project Management Company
A vertically integrated agroforestry investment platform financing nature-based solutions projects linked to carbon credits and sustainable commodity value chains in Latin America.
Oryx Impact by Oryx Impact S.L.
A fund-of-funds strategy targeting African impact funds, with a phased approach to introducing blended finance features to attract local institutional investors.
SecondMuse Capital Discovery Fund by SecondMuse Capital
A place-based blended finance facility using debt, grants, and outcome-based instruments to unlock green investment that is nature positive, focused on restoring nature, and designed to deliver mutual value and a resilient wellbeing economy in Southeast and South Asian markets.
Sini Greenfield Fund, managed by Sini Capital Management
A Shariah-compliant fund investing in greenfield and early-stage agricultural enterprises across East Africa. The fund focuses on export markets and climate-aligned production, combining equity investment with hands-on venture building to develop scalable anchor firms.
Transform & Adaptation Fund (TAF) by AfricInvest and Thirdway Partners
A climate adaptation-focused private debt fund investing in resilient agriculture and food value chain, sustainable mobility, and built environment sectors across African and Latin American markets.
These blended finance vehicles span a range of asset classes, geographies, and sectors, including private debt and equity, infrastructure, agriculture, energy, and climate adaptation. Collectively, they reflect the growing sophistication of fund managers designing structures that aim to meet the risk-return expectations of institutional investors. We would also like to acknowledge the Canada-based fund and asset managers who participated in the first Call for Proposals. A4FM remains committed to strengthening the ecosystem and building the capacity of Canadian institutional players to engage meaningfully in blended finance initiatives globally.
“The depth and nature of the A4FM Accelerator’s initial round of applicants clearly demonstrates the appetite for blended finance as a key structuring tool to facilitate institutional investing in the emerging and developing economies at scale. We congratulate these top-ranked applicants for designing innovative, investable structures that deploy catalytic capital to overcome real market barriers and open pathways for commercial investing in traditionally undercapitalized markets.” — Leah Pedersen, Senior Director, Blended Finance Accelerator, Convergence
A subset of these proposals will undergo further detailed due diligence, following which vehicles may be recommended to the Investment Committee for award consideration. Stay tuned for the final list of awardees and for A4FM’s next call for proposals, expected to launch in April 2026.
