Quona Capital Raises $203M For FinTech-Boosting Fund

Quona Capital, a venture capital firm based in Washington and Bengaluru, has closed its second fund with $203 million in commitments, according to a report by Deal Street Asia.

The Accion Quona Inclusion Fund originally had a goal of raising $150 million. The fund will set its sights on FinTechs and financial organizations in Africa, Latin America, India and Southeast Asia. Its LPs include commercial and investment banks, family offices, insurance companies, university endowments and others.

With the fund’s latest close, Quona Capital’s assets under management (AUM) are at $363 million. Over the past year, the Accion Quona Inclusion Fund has seen nine investments, which include digital commerce company Ula, digital consumer lending company JULO, end-to-end insurance company Sunday and others.

“Quona is uniquely positioned as a pioneering scale-up stage venture firm focused on FinTech for inclusion in emerging markets, and we are thrilled to have become one of the most active FinTech investors in emerging markets in a short span of five years,” said Quona Capital Co-founding Partner Ganesh Rengaswamy.

The company’s first fund was worth about $143 million and saw two exits: a sale of Philippines payment company Coins.ph to Gojek in January of 201 and the IPO of B2B eCommerce company IndiaMart last year.

“We focus on scale-up stage financial technology companies that are expanding access to financial services for underserved consumers and small businesses,” said Rengaswamy.

Michael Schlein, president and CEO of Accion, said the fund will help meet the needs of companies that might not otherwise have an opportunity for funding.

“Access to a full range of high-quality, affordable financial services is the bedrock that underpins social and economic development, gender equality, resilience and livelihoods. By harnessing the power of the capital markets and the digital technologies that enable better, faster and cheaper ways to meet the needs of the underserved, this fund will serve as a catalyst toward meeting those goals,” he said in a release.