About five years ago, 7-figure investments for African startups were rare. Fast forward to 2019, African startup funding crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time. The ’billion dollar’ trend continued in 2020 as more and more investors are gaining confidence in early-stage African startups.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 6 May 2021
172,545. That's how many women entrepreneurs Lendahand's new portfolio company Kori has supported to grow so far. Cooperative Kori, based in Peru, focuses on the financial growth of people who have their own businesses and offers group loans for women entrepreneurs.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 28 April 2021
Lendahand is excited to announce our newest co-financing partner: AlphaMundi. As a global impact investment company, AlphaMundi is dedicated to reducing poverty and preserving the environment, particularly in developing countries.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 21 April 2021
Thomas is known as the Friendly Face of Investments for obvious reasons: he looks friendly and is part of the investments team. Thomas also enjoys reading and learning about a variety of subjects. If you're looking for a book to read, we'd recommend getting in touch with him.
In this new series Lendahand-investor Marlous van Oorschot tells us about her experience as with Gender Lens Investing. Read her first article here.
Written by Lucas Weaver on 25 March 2021
Continuing our series of email interviews with the leaders of our portfolio companies, this time we got to hear from Erwin Spolders, the founder of REDAVIA Gmbh. This was an interesting interview on many levels. In it, Erwin explained to us a truly innovative approach they took to tackling the COVID crisis in Ghana and Kenya, as well as the finer points of their B2B solar business model.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 23 March 2021
Pietro is a member of the Investments Team and enjoys organizing team-building events. He is Italian and, with the exception of Dutch, speaks five languages fluently. Fun fact: he once presented the Princess of Thailand with flowers.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 10 March 2021
Lynn is Lendahand’s Growth Coordinator. She’s Belgian, has the cutest cat named Papi Chulo, and loves being outdoors. She also enjoys sailing on the ocean and speaks multiple languages. Lynn writes most of the blog posts on our website, our monthly newsletters, and email updates.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 8 March 2021
With #ChooseToChallenge, International Women’s Day is a call to action for accelerating gender parity- something we at Lendahand strive to accomplish as well. We dive into the gender balance at Lendahand and put some remarkable women behind our portfolio companies in the spotlight.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 3 March 2021
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the richest countries in natural resources. How is it that it is still one of the poorest countries in the world?
Written by Femke Rutgers on 23 February 2021
Lily is Lendahand’s Growth Strategist, a mom of two, and one of the few people in the office that doesn’t drink coffee. Another fun fact is despite her lack of singing skills (her words, not ours), she loves karaoke. We’ve asked her a couple of questions to help you get to know her better.
Written by Lucas Weaver on 23 February 2021
We recently conducted an email interview with Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku. Here’s what he had to say about the exciting prospects of Peer-to-Peer lending in Southeast Asia, as well as the impact Funding Societies is making by providing much needed capital to underfunded SMEs.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 20 February 2021
Today marks Social Justice Day, a global observance date by the United Nations to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. This year’s theme is A Call for Social Justice in the Digital Economy, a topical subject, as many of us work digitally due to the pandemic.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 9 February 2021
Tobias started as an intern with Lendahand and then spent five months in the African bush in a conservation team at a wildlife reserve. When he returned, he began as an LAH employee and eventually grew to become the Head of Investments. Fun fact: over the course of 30 years, he’s had the privilege of taking care of 19 dogs. (And no, not because the mortality rate is that high!)
Written by Lucas Weaver on 28 January 2021
This month, we got the chance to hear from First Finance CEO Sothany Chun who told us about what they’re doing to help people in Cambodia.
Written by Femke Rutgers on 26 January 2021
Lucas is a sports-fanatic from Texas and moved to Rotterdam a few years ago. He has a lot of responsibility, working as Lendahand’s Head of Growth and owning an English language school. When he’s not working, Lucas enjoys taking his dog Remi out for walks, making his famous peanut butter-banana oats, and going to the gym.
Written by Koen The on 20 January 2021
We’re excited to announce that Lendahand is adding investment offerings in U.S. Dollars to our portfolio. Up until now, Lendahand has always carried out deals with our portfolio companies in euros. Adding investment opportunities in USD means a fresh batch of new opportunities will be coming your way.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 22 December 2020
Funding Societies (FS) is a fast-growing digital financing platform in Southeast Asia, based in Singapore. They operate a crowdfunding platform and provide short-term credit to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Through their services entrepreneurs can get the financing they require to grow their business.
Written by Lynn Hamerlinck on 14 January 2021
New year, new goals! Is contributing to a better world one of your New Year’s resolutions? Are you also creating personal financial goals? Set your Lendahand Wallet goal for 2021 and get started.
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