<article>US-based philanthropy impact investor <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/omidyar-network/">Omidyar Network</a> has spun off its financial investment arm to create Flourish Ventures.</article>

US-based philanthropy impact investor <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/tag/omidyar-network/">Omidyar Network</a> has spun off its financial investment arm to create Flourish Ventures.
Flourish launches with a global team of 18 professionals and an existing $200 million portfolio across the US and emerging markets. It will have an additional $300 million at its disposal over the next five years.
“While our current approaches and tools remain vital and necessary contributors to impact on an individual level, they must be augmented by efforts that address the underlying causes of these consequences at a systemic level,” Omidyar Network said in a blog post.
Prior to Flourish, Omidyar has spun out its US emerging tech and impact investing units into Spero and Luminate.
Flourish has more than 50 portfolio companies and operates as an evergreen venture fund to provide patient capital. The fund focuses on the sectors of big data, challenger banks, personal finance, insurtech, consumer and SME lending and regtech.
The invested businesses also include ecosystem builders such as Malaysia-based Alliance for Financial Inclusion and R2A Accelerator.
Omidyar Network is the family office of Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. Founded in 2004, it has committed over $1.46 billion to date.
About 40 per cent of American could not come up with $400 to pay for an emergency expense, Flourish said in a statement. Meanwhile, in emerging markets, half of the working-age adults typically live and work in the informal economy, often reluctantly self-employed without adequate resources.
“Technology is changing the nature of work and propelling winner-takes-all models,” it said. Therefore, it urged the need to design solutions that could meet the real needs of households and small enterprises.
&#8220;We believe that capital, when deployed to create individual opportunity and change sectors, can shape a more inclusive economy where everyone does better. That is at the core of Flourish&#8217;s mission,&#8221; commented Tilman Ehrbeck, one of the three managing partners leading the new venture.
Flourish currently has offices in India. Its Asia investments have been focused in the country. In an earlier interaction with DEALSTREETASIA, Roopa Kudva, partner and managing director for India, said the firm typically targeted seed to Series B investments and looked to deploy about $60 million a year in India.
Its Asia portfolio includes Kaleidofin, Lenddo, Affordplan, Bonfleet Solutions and MicroEnsure.
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Flourish launches with a global team of 18 professionals and an existing $200-million portfolio across the US and emerging markets.

Omidyar Network spins out fintech-focused Flourish Ventures with $300m in capital

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Omidyar Network spins out fintech-focused Flourish Ventures with $300m in capital

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