WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says its IDB Lab has launched a call for proposals for Venture Capital Funds in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Washington-based institution, says that this is one of the most active venture capital (VC) fund investors in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), having invested in over 90 funds since 1996 and a current portfolio composed of over 50 funds.

“Through its fund investment activities, IDB Lab seeks to contribute to unleash the potential of innovation to generate greater development impact and social inclusion with a special focus on poor and vulnerable populations across LAC, as well as to bridge key financing gaps in countries, sectors, and business models in which there is an unsatisfied demand for investments from early-stage entrepreneurs,” said the IDB in a statement.

The call for proposals, which opened on February 1, “aims to invest in VC funds that are aligned with one of the following four approaches”: Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems, Regionalising Funds, Sector Specific Funds, and Diversity Lens Investing Funds.

The IDB said Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems are funds that invest primarily in nascent or emerging early-stage ecosystems such as Central America, Caribbean and selected markets in South America, such as Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.

Regionalising Funds are funds with regional strategy, which, in addition to targeting more developed early-stage ecosystems, include nascent or emerging ecosystems to promote regional integration and knowledge transfer from more mature to emerging VC market within LAC, the IDB said.

It sad Sector Specific Funds are funds specialising in high-impact sectors with “pronounced structural capital gaps resulting from unmet demand by early-stage entrepreneurs, such as Health/Biotech, Edtech/Workertech, Agtech/Foodtech and Climatetech, among others”.

Diversity Lens Investing Funds are led by a diverse team in terms of ethnicity, race, and gender, “whose thesis are equally focused on diversity, in accordance with IDB´s Lab goal of anchoring the first LAC VC fund with such an approach”.

“Investment management firms with proven experience and presence in the region, interested in being considered for IDB Lab´s investment, are invited to submit proposals,” the IDB said.