CAF Financial Inclusion Laboratory 2021: Southern Cone

This year's edition has 36 allies from the public and private sectors in these countries. 

The top 8 fintech participants will be accelerated by Seedstars and Endeavor, and all will be able to receive funding from the region’s leading private banks and investment funds. Additionally, participants will be able to participate in Village Capital investment workshops.

Laboratory dynamics 

• CAF poses challenges in two categories (financial inclusion of vulnerable groups and promotion of MSME productivity) and the entrepreneurs propose solutions that are already working in the market.
• A committee set up by LIF 2021 allies will evaluate the projects and select the best ones to give presentations on pitch day. 
• The pitch day & matchmaking event will involve all the laboratory's allies, both public and private, so there may be parallel opportunities for funding or strategic alliances.
• The top 8 startups will be selected to participate in the acceleration programs offered by Endeavor and Seedstars, and the semi-finalists will attend investment workshops taught by Village Capital.
• On pitch day, entrepreneurs will potentially have access to financing and/or technical advice from the laboratory's various partners, both regionally and from each country.

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.

Key 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, 2021.
• Acceleration activities: January to June 2022.

Prizes and rewards

The initiatives presented at LIF 2021 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.