What a year it has been! 🌟 As 2024 comes to a close, Seedstars International Ventures shares their investments recap, together with trends and learnings shaping emerging markets. Check below all insights ⬇️
As 2024 wraps up, our new investments this year tell a powerful story about the trends shaping emerging markets. 1️⃣ Credit Access: The $5T global credit gap persists. 💡 Our investments: Cinch makes electronics accessible in SEA through subscriptions, Credify Africa, Inc offers trade finance in East Africa, Saswat Financial Technologies Pvt. Ltd. empowers Indian farmers, Lorien Finance supports Indian students to study abroad, and Tumoni provides free remittance and digital banking for US migrants in Central America. With deeper financial access comes more fraud—Silverguard in Brazil uses AI and the crowd to combat social scams (2.5M cases reported in 2023). 2️⃣ Supply Chain Modernisation: Supply chain inefficiencies cost emerging markets 6% of GDP. 💡 Our investments: LogShare optimises backhaul logistics in Brazil, KarHub transforms B2B auto part procurement, and OKOA Rescue minimises truck downtime in East Africa with a roadside assistance marketplace. 3️⃣ Climate Resilience: 2024 is confirmed as the hottest year on record, with global temperatures reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. 💡 Our investments: BANIQL will revolutionise nickel extraction in Indonesia, while Courageous Land enables agroforestry to thrive in Brazil. 4️⃣ Game-Changing Tech: 💡 Our investments: Dapta offers a no-code AI marketing solution, and Pi-xcels has patented NFC digital receipt technology. 5️⃣ AI: A cross-cutting theme enabling credit scoring, fraud detection, product search, quality control, customer services and more. Our mantra: invest in businesses solving massive and meaningful problems, with AI as a critical enabler. 🔭 2025 🔭 : Looking ahead, we’re excited about fraud prevention, cybersecurity, and data protection as GDPR-inspired regulations spread. Secured lending is an untapped digital opportunity, and emerging market manufacturing continues to grow, driven by China +1 strategies. Thank you to all the founders driving these incredible companies forward and my team for making our work possible Konstantin Hapkemeyer, Nataly Yousef, (Twwo) Pun Jaruthassanakul, Samantha Batista, Małgorzata (Mal) Filipowska, Jonathan Attwell. Wishing you all a wonderful end to 2024 and all the best for the New Year!