What began as a commitment to support start-up company with the potential to grow, one year after its establishment, Popular Impact Fund has become an important investment vehicle for six companies. This important fund was created to make minority investments in companies that are raising capital.
Popular earmarked an initial $15 million for this fund, of which a total of $4.8 million has been disbursed to date, in two investment funds and six companies, three local and three in the United States.
Popular Impact Fund has invested in companies such as Raincoat Insurance, Inc., which provides parametric insurance technology, Greenwood, Inc., a digital banking platform committed to providing banking services to African-American and Latino communities in the United States, and Carbonwave, which specializes in the development of biomaterials based on sargassum or seaweed.
Ignacio Alvarez, president and chief executive officer of Popular, said: "I am very pleased with the results we are seeing today with this fund. Betting on entrepreneurs who seek to offer innovative solutions and address global challenges will always be our focus. We will continue to search for new business opportunities to expand our footprint and drive economic and social development, not only locally, but also in the United States.
Popular Impact Fund was created with the goal of financing companies that provide innovative solutions to social and economic obstacles, with growth potential and need for capital, focusing on those that develop strategic technology for the Fintech sector and those that generate a positive social impact on communities. The fund typically seeks to invest between $250 thousand and $1 million in companies or entities in the early stages of development. "This initiative is an example of our purpose, of putting people at the center of progress," Alvarez added.
Other companies that have benefited from the fund include Skootel, a micro mobility company in Puerto Rico, AccurKardia, a healthcare technology company that provides software for automated interpretation of electrocardiograms powered by artificial intelligence, and Parcha, a company that is developing artificial intelligent agents to optimize how people in various sectors do their jobs.
To learn more about Popular Impact Fund, visit www.popular.com/impactfund.
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Contact:
Natacha Vale
(787) 553-6681
Natacha.vale@popular.com