Quito, December 10, 2024

 

IMPAQTO Capital announces an investment in tuGerente, a Bolivian company that empowers small and medium businesses through its software for financial and inventory management. IMPAQTO Capital is investing through a revenue-based loan.

 

Small and medium businesses represent 99% of companies in Latin America and provide 67% of the region’s employment, but many of these businesses suffer from low productivity stemming from inefficiency and informality. This low productivity limits the capacity of small and medium businesses to grow, create employment, and access financial services.

 

tuGerente addresses this informality and lack of easy-to-access information through its software with tools for managing the company’s finances and inventory, allowing business owners to access information and analytics in real time. tuGerente currently has over 1,000 customers in Bolivia and is expanding to Peru and Mexico.

 

This investment was made with support from the Gender Scaling Financing Facility (GSFF), designed and managed by LeFil Consulting with financing from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Through funding from GSFF, a social impact study was conducted to survey tuGerente’s customers and evaluate the profile of the customers and the company’s impact. The impact study showed how tuGerente is benefiting low-income business owners and employees and how the platform is driving financial inclusion, with 27% of SME customers that received a bank loan after beginning to use the software being first-time borrowers.

 

Jessica Graf, Founder and Managing Director of Lefil Consulting, explained “Through the GSFF, thanks to the support of SDC, we fuel the growth of gender-inclusive social ventures in Latin America through innovative hybrid financing. By leveraging donor capital to address barriers to private funding, we connected tuGerente, a gender-focused social enterprise seeking growth capital, and IMPAQTO Capital, an impact-driven investor eager to back transformative companies, but needing hard data on tuGerente’s impact on vulnerable populations. To bridge this gap, we conducted a custom impact study that revealed significant benefits for low-income owners and employees of tuGerente’s SME customers. This game-changing evidence unlocked IMPAQTO Capital’s investment, which will enable tuGerente to scale its operations and gender-inclusive impact.”

 

“The positive impact on the growth of our SME clients is more than just the heart and purpose of tuGerente; it is our competitive advantage to continue growing and scaling globally. Together with IMPAQTO Capital, we will drive our international growth and impact in a systemic way,” commented Freddy Arredondo, CEO and Co-Founder of tuGerente.

 

Michelle Arévalo-Carpenter, General Partner of IMPAQTO Capital, remarked “We are excited to support tuGerente on their mission to support the growth and increased productivity of SMEs in Latin America, driving increased income for business owners. Already positioned as a leader in Bolivia, we look forward to seeing tuGerente expand regionally and benefit thousands more SME owners around the region.”

 

The investment will be used to support tuGerente’s regional expansion and improve the company’s impact measurement processes and capabilities.