Mercy Corps Ventures Resilient Futures
The Mercy Corps Ventures Resilient Future Fund is an impact investment vehicle built on a foundational thesis that the world is undergoing unprecedented transformational change. The fund invests in early-stage, tech-enabled start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America that are building climate adaptation solutions, viewing this moment of upheaval as an opportunity to restructure systems to be more resilient and inclusive.
In 2019, Mercy Corps began helping Isaac to obtain his official land title, a process that is generally too expensive for many land owners to undergo alone and bars them from any governmental assistance, including loans. Mercy Corps also helped Isaac eradicate a cacao disease, which killed nearly 2/3 of his crop in 2023. Though his crops have not recovered completely, he is now able to harvest 60 kilos every 20 days — a large increase from the 15-20 kilos he was harvesting when the disease was affecting his crop. Isaac received 50 chickens through the Protierra Catatumbo program, which he says has helped to diversify his income.
The fund’s core investment areas are Adaptive Agriculture & Food Systems, Inclusive Climate Fintech, and Climate-Smart Technologies. It operates on the conviction that adaptation is the key differentiator for survival and growth in emerging markets, which face the brunt of climate and financial shocks. The strategy is driven by the convergence of several powerful trends: dramatic advancements in frontier technology (mobile internet, AI, IoT, Web3) reaching emerging markets at scale, a young and digitally native population with growing spending power, and the urgent need to address a massive financing gap for climate adaptation.
A central premise of the fund is that underserved communities—often disproportionately impacted by climate change and financial exclusion—are now gaining unprecedented access to technology and resources. However, access alone is insufficient; the fund seeks to back entrepreneurs who are co-designing inclusive solutions that directly address the unique needs of these populations. By investing at the Pre-Seed and Seed stages, Mercy Corps Ventures aims to de-risk these frontier market opportunities for larger global investors, catalyzing a shift of private capital into climate resilience. The ultimate goals are to demonstrate the significant commercial “blue ocean” opportunity in this space, reach over 25 million people with resilience-building solutions, and help close the critical climate adaptation finance gap. ORFL is happy to support this cause.
