News

SEAF’s Caucasus Growth Fund Invests in Alazani II, a hydro power plant estimated to provide ample clean energy to Georgia.

SEAF Portfolio Company Matras S.A., a regional bookstore chain held by the SEAF North Fund, was given the Dobra Marka 2013 in the “Bookstore Chain” category.

SEAF India Agribusiness Fund portfolio company Davars - Tropolite Food Private Ltd. featured in  Modern Food Processing May 2013 issue.

CEED launches its new website today. This is the result of over a year of hard work examining who and what we are, and how we can have the greatest impact on the entrepreneurial communities we create and develop.

On December 20, 2012, Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) and Globalturk Capital (Globalturk) have announced a partnership to discover and invest in qualified SMEs in Turkey.  The collaboration will focus on companies with strong business models and proven technologies, with goals to adapt their business throughout Turkey and beyond.  The partnership will make use of Globalturk’s experience in Turkey in tandem with SEAF’s global network and 20+ years of investing in emerging markets.

Macedonia 2025 has partnered with Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) to launch the SEAF Macedonia II Fund, with an official agreement signed on October 22, 2012 at the Macedonia Global Investment Summit 2012 held in Ohrid, Macedonia.  The fund will focus on small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the region, providing risk capital financing and technical support to select businesses across a range of industries.

Two SEAF managed funds completed their exit in a Peruvian logistics firm, Outsourcing S.A.C., this July.

SEAF's Caucasus Growth Fund invested USD 6 million in Ioli, a Georgian supermarket chain, in July.

SEAF is set to help sponsor an upcoming entrepreneurial competition in the Netherlands for small-and-medium sized enterprises.

Bilal Sethi highlights Small Enterprise Assistance Funds' (SEAF) mix of capital and technical assistance as key to the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the MENA region.

SEAF-managed funds sold their shares in a Peruvian hydro-electric power plant operator in February in the country's first strategic exit by a private venture capital company.

Indian government recognizes SEAF India portfolio company Abhay Cotex Private Limited (ACPL) for its agricultural innovation in cotton-seed oil production.

SEAF launched its Caucasus Growth Fund this Spring, the first institutional-quality fund dedicated to providing mezzanine debt and equity capital to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

SEAF South Balkan Fund General Director Nikola Stefanovic predicts economic challenges for Serbian entrepreneurs in 2012.

SEAF's partnership with Phuong Chau Hospital significantly improves the access to and quality of neonatal and maternity healthcare in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

SEAF's investment in Ritseula Hesi will increase the small hydropower plant's capacity from 4 mWh to 14, improving Georgia's access to renewable energy, expanding its energy output and reducing its dependence on foreign energy.

With SEAF's support, A-Net is transforming the fragmented and unreliable internet services of the Adjara region to meet international standards of connectivity, efficiency and dependability.

The Deal discusses the birth of private equity in Colombia, highlighting SEAF's trail blazing role in this movement, a variety of SEAF's deals in the country and the first close on its follow-on fund.

Featuring metrics from SEAF's global portfolio, IRIS's first annual data report covers 463 impact investing organizations across 58 countries that collectively reach nearly 8 million clients & employ over 23,000 permanent workers.

Abhay Cotex employs a proprietary technology that conserves approximately 90% of the water and energy used during cottonseed processing, as compared to conventional methods.

SEAF lists three funds on Homestrings, an interactive web portal designed to link experienced, individual investors with promising opportunities in emerging markets that were previously only accessible to institutional investors.

Bloomberg.com highlights SEAF portfolio company Refinancia's efforts to redefine the debt collection landscape in Latin America, focusing on "amicable negotiations, rather than harassing phone calls or visits."

In an OpEd piece for The Daily Star, SEAF Bangladesh Ventures' Fahim Ahmed explores the underlying cause inhibiting the growth of Bangladesh's SMEs - access to finance - and presents a potential solution to capital constraints.

In an article discussing the "uptick in early stage investments" in India, the Economic Times highlights SEAF's recent investment in Tropilite Foods and its newly launch India Agribusiness Fund.

SEAF India Agribusiness Fund invests in one of India's few value-added food ingredients companies, supporting the growth and success of the countries agribusiness value chain.

Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank, highlight's SEAF and SEAF Bangladesh Ventures in Welcome Address at IFC’s 13th Annual Global Private Equity Conference.

SEAF Bangladesh Ventures invests in SOLARIC, a developer of renewable energy technology and products for rural and urban markets in Bangladesh.

Alan Patricof discusses the critical role of SMEs in developing countries and lists SEAF as an impact investor striving to fill the gap in available financing for these small businesses.

Announcing the release of Impact Beyond Investment: SEAF’s 2011 Development Impact Report.  Thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis, this report describes the social and economic impact that SMEs generate in their economies.

Financial Express discusses the growing popularity of food and farm produce companies among investors and lists SEAF India Agribusiness International Fund as an exciting new player in the India's agribusiness sector.

Fondos de inversión de SEAF, Latam Peru y Latam Growth, adquieren una participación del 22% en una compañía de servicios financieros, Financiera TFC (to read this article in English, click here).

SEAF's Latin American funds Latam Peru and Latam Growth, acquire a 22% stake in a Peruvian financial services company (para leer este artículo en español, haga clic aquí).

SEAF's Afghan Growth Finance partners with RANA Technologies to increase access to internet services in Afghanistan to 80 percent.

Travel expert Andrew Harper featured SEAF investee Titilaka in his 2011 Grand Awards issue of the Hideaway Report, which catalogs nineteen hotels based on their “exceptional character, a commitment to classic hospitality and a profound sense of place.”

SEAF's Bangladesh fund makes its first investment in the country in a leading software solutions developer.

SEAF launches a new, user-friendly website to better support its growing presence in emerging markets and to provide its partners and colleagues with dependable, current and insightful information.

SEAF Bangladesh Ventures receives high praise from the governor of the Bangladeshi central bank. The launch ceremony is covered in this FE Report.

SEAF launches the first finance company to focus exclusively on providing risk capital of less than $0.5M per investment to Bangladeshi SMEs.

SEAF's Héctor Cateriano is interviewed by El Megáfono, the monthly periodical released by the popular Colombian restaurant Andrés Carne de Res. (Spanish)

The New York Times features SEAF-investee Rcheuli in an article that discusses the new wave of development in the Georgian port city of Batumi.

SEAF partners with an historic Polish book distributor to expand operations, enhance relationship with publishers, and improve its online retail platform.

SEAF provide a Peruvian product processor and exporter with critical working capital to finance the harvest and export season. Sunshine Exports supports more than 450 local farmers and employs over 3,000 workers.

The SEAF SME Debt Facility invests in a Peruvian integrated distribution logistics firm to expand the company’s warehouse capacity, meet growing demand, and double its capacity in a sector crucial to the development of Peru’s economy.

SEAF establishes a new global facility to provide working capital for growth-oriented small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world, focusing on mobilizing debt investments to SMEs throughout emerging markets.

SEAF launches a new risk capital fund to invest in promising SMEs around the globe. The new USD 5 million equity facility is financed by the Calvert Group through the Calvert Large Cap Growth Fund.

Slides from SEAF’s event, hosted on March 25, 2010, that profiles the efforts of our Afghan Growth Finance towards promoting security in the region through SME investing.

SEAF co-hosts The Global Forum on Impact Investing, which argues that it is possible to both make a profit and promote social change to the developing world in addition to exploring how existing barriers to impact investing can be removed.

FAO's report explores agricultural investment funds as a vehicle for financing agricultural projects in developing and transition countries. The report features SEAF's global track record and our Georgia Regional Development Fund.

This Wall Street Journal Article explores the industry of investing in pre-emerging, or frontier, markets.

Seeking Alpha's Don Dion interviews SEAF's Keirn O'Connor on investing in Vietnam.