Seedstars launches new platform to support emerging and diverse VC managers

Supported by Swiss-based investment holding company xMultiplied, Seedstars has launched Seedstars Capital, an initiative through which it aims to support the next generation of fund managers, particularly in emerging markets.

You don’t have to look very far to see that over the course of this year the incumbent VC world has lifted its collective foot off the gas pedal and is gently pumping the brakes. However, that doesn’t mean that there’s any shortage of up-and-coming talent armed with local expertise and bright new ideas on just what and how venture capital should function.

According to Seedstars, the VC industry is growing exponentially across emerging markets, however, the vast majority of these early-stage funds are formed by new and diverse teams. While the rising VCs themselves might possess the chops to succeed, they’ve yet to establish a track record that will convince LP’s to hand over large sums of capital. As a result, many of these blossoming funds contain less than $50 million in assets under management.

And herein lies the problem that Seedstars Capital has set out to solve. By working hand in hand with these emerging markets rising stars, and providing the resources of its large community of limited partners, mentors, experts, physical locations, and the tech and administrative infrastructure, Seedstars is not only supporting and assembling a network of new VCs across emerging markets but also providing investors with a diversified allocation solution to the asset class within emerging markets.

Seedstars is expecting to push over $500 million of new funding into the development and support of these new managers, and it estimates that more than 10,000 new jobs will be created, generating north of $20 billion of additional GDP across emerging markets in the next 10 years.

The platform has already launched its first fund, Seedstars International Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage industry agnostic fund specifically supporting emerging and frontier markets that has seen support and commitments from LPs including IFC, Visa Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Symbiotics.

Additionally, the platform collaborates with Seedstars Africa Ventures, a regional-focused fund aimed at backing companies in the African continent, and is currently working towards launching funds focused on EdTech, supply chain, ClimateTech and other impact sectors with outstanding rising managers in emerging markets.