Open the call for the CAF Laboratory of Financial Inclusion 2021

CAF-development bank of Latin America- is organizing the third edition of the Financial Inclusion Laboratory (LIF 2021) focused on Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, with the aim of promoting technological solutions to address public and private sector needs in the following areas:

• Financial inclusion of vulnerable groups
• Financial inclusion with impact on MSME productivity

LIF 2021 brings together the public and private sectors, investors and entrepreneurs to promote business opportunities, member interaction in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and provide concrete solutions to the financial inclusion issues raised as the basis of the initiative.

Financing and acceleration

The initiatives presented at LIF 2020 (apply here) will have a wide variety of funding and acceleration opportunities, among which the following stand out:

• The 8 winning proposals will participate in Endeavor and Seedstars acceleration programs, which will run from January to June 2022.
• Semi-finalists will participate in investment workshops taught by Village Capital.
• All proposals will be able to enter a financing round through major private banks and investment funds in Latin America and the Caribbean, once interest is shown by the players involved.

Important dates

• The project submission period will begin on August 3 and end September 8, 2021 at 23:59 p.m.
• The shortlisted proposals announcement will be made between October 11 and 15.
• Presentation of the & matchmaking pitch event: November 9, 2020.
• Acceleration activities: January to June 2022.

Allies

• Accelerators: Endeavor, Seedstars and Village Capital.
  
  
• Argentina: National Directorate of Financial Inclusion for Argentina, Central Bank of Argentina, Argentine Chamber of Fintech.
• Chile: State Bank of Chile, Fintech Association Chile, StartUp Chile, CORFO, BCI.
• Paraguay: Paraguay Ministry of Finance, MITIC Paraguay, MIC Paraguay, ENIF Paraguay, University of Columbia in Paraguay, American University, Personal, Vision Bank, Asoban Paraguay, Fintech Chamber of Paraguay. 
• Uruguay: Central Bank of Uruguay, National Development Agency of Uruguay, National Agency for Research and Innovation, Initium - University of Montevideo Incubator, Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship - Incubator University OR, DERES - Companies for Sustainable Development, Uruguayan Chamber of Information Technologies, Uruguay Association of Private Banks (ABPU), Republic of Uruguay Bank.