Announcement from GuarantCo and PIDG, October 29, 2026

GuarantCo, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), has provided the credit enhancement behind a $100 million private capital raise for a gender-lens fund managed by ALMA, a U.S.-based impact investor that lends to fast-growing companies in emerging markets.

The fund will provide flexible debt financing to financial institutions, fintechs and other small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. That financing will include loans to companies that support women-led or women-owned businesses, to financial institutions and fintechs that lend to women, and to other projects aligned with the 2X Challenge, the gender-lens investing commitment launched at the 2018 G7 summit.

The fund will also lend to climate-positive SMEs, including for electric-vehicle leasing and small-scale renewable energy. PIDG describes the transaction as aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality (SDG 5) and climate action (SDG 13).

GuarantCo provided a $75 million partial credit guarantee covering the loans that Aegon Asset Management, the anchor investor, and other global institutional investors made to Nava Capital 1, ALMA’s special purpose vehicle. ALMA put in a $10 million subordinated tranche as additional first-loss protection. The investments reached the vehicle through a platform arranged by Symbiotics, which has worked with GuarantCo on several transactions over the past year. PIDG says the platform put the investments in a format suited to Aegon and the other institutions.

By recycling its capital, the fund is expected to deploy up to $240 million. PIDG also expects it to draw in more institutional capital and to become a replicable model that needs less guarantee support in the future. According to the announcement, it is the third fund to reach close across GuarantCo’s portfolio.

“This is an important transaction for us, as ALMA’s emerging markets-focused climate finance vehicle is innovative for having gender-lens investing as its primary objective,” said Dave Chalila, Head of Africa Investments at GuarantCo.

Gautam Ivatury, Managing Partner at ALMA, said the partnership will let ALMA get more capital to entrepreneurs whose customers gain access to finance, clean mobility, clean energy or products that target women. “This vehicle represents an innovative development impact finance structure that can be scaled up to reach even more financial institutions and SMEs in emerging markets,” he said.

PIDG is funded by the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and Sweden, and by Global Affairs Canada. ALMA says that since its launch in 2020 it has deployed more than $200 million in commercial capital to over 30 companies in emerging and developing markets.

Sources: GuarantCo and PIDG’s announcement (October 29, 2026), ALMA’s website and the 2X Challenge. Image courtesy of PIDG.