FROM AN IDEA INTO AN OPERATING PROJECT
This tutorial is addressed to those entities that aspire to work with IDB Lab. It explains project stages from the project conception to the execution of the cooperation agreement with IDB Lab for its subsequent implementation.
IDB Lab seeks to promote innovative ventures and projects that resource to new technologies and have the potential to generate a large-scale impact by promoting economic and social inclusion. Funded initiatives must be related to the verticals or sectors that IDB Lab supports:
Education, Talent and Employment
Agriculture and natural capital
Financial inclusion
Health
Essential infrastructure services
Our objective is to bridge the main financing gaps for start-ups and innovative companies that drive inclusion and systemic change in LAC. IDB Lab is the only regional entity fully dedicated to fostering innovation in LAC.
IDB Lab offers a wide range of financing products that can be mixed and matched to better support our clients:
IDB Lab offers a wide range of financing products that can be mixed and matched to better support our clients:
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
IDB Lab invests both indirectly and directly in companies to address major financing gaps in the region. Most of our investments comprise venture capital and debt funds – where we leverage the "smart capital" of fund managers – to bring about an indirect impact through companies in specific sectors and geographies or with business models that do not have capital access. For direct financing (equity/quasi-equity and debt), we selectively identify highly impactful early ventures. We primarily invest alongside trusted partners in the industry, making the most of our extensive network of venture capital in the region.
DISCOVERY PRODUCTS
Through private sector-led solutions, these products finance innovative projects that not only generate opportunities for entrepreneurs and vulnerable populations but also raise the living standards of low-income people and communities.
Discovery products include:
1) Prototype projects with funding of up to US$ 150,000
2) Spark projects with funding between US$ 250,000 and US$ 700,000
3) Ecosystem projects that typically require US$ 1 million or more.
What requirements must a project and its proponent meet to be financed by IDB Lab?
What new disruptive models or technologies does the solution leverage, e.g. Collaborative Economics, Behavioral Sciences, Circular Economy, etc. / Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Robotics, Internet of Things, Big Data, etc.
How the proposed solution will have a systemic and transforming impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands or millions of people in vulnerable situations and/or on the environment.
Transversally, it must contemplate: reducing poverty and economic inequality, promoting diversity and gender equality and/or be environmentally sustainable.
The solution must have an impact on one or more of the following 26 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
How the project will be maintained after IDB Lab support ends.
What track record, team, business model, and if applicable, mastery of technology, the organization has to ensure the success of the project.
The proponent must provide at least 50% of the project funding, of which at least 50% must be in cash.
Versatile and specialized financing.
It follows the innovation cycle
* This is a simplified scheme, as the use IDB Lab's financing products can vary according to specific client profiles, and innovation development can take different trajectories including scaling through the public sector after any point in the cycle.
Stages
1
Origination
The entity contacts IDB Lab and asks for information about the process. In most cases, the entity already has a project idea or draft, and it is looking for funding.
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2
Design
A meeting is held to present an overview of the documents and instruments that the entity and IDB Lab will fill in as part of the project design process.
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3
Execution
The IDB Lab Team asks the Executing Agency for the entity’s incorporation documents and the representative’s power of attorney.
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