ISC Sarmayacar (IFC-42297)

Countries
  • Pakistan
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
FI
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Jun 17, 2019
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
SARMAYACAR (PRIVATE) LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 2.50 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Sep 5, 2019

Disclosed by Bank May 17, 2019

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

Sarmayacar Ventures Coopreatif is an early stage venture capital fund raising US$30 million to invest in tech based companies in Pakistan. This investment will fall under the IFC Startup Catalyst initiative, which supports entrepreneurship and innovation at the earliest stages.

The project aims to achieve "(i) Increased access to capital for early stage tech enabled startups in a nascent ecosystem with an increased focus on supporting women entrepreneurs; (ii) Improved investee growth as the fund manager will actively engage in professionalizing the investee companies to help them grow their product offerings, increase headcount and potentially expand into new markets, and (iii) market creation through increased competitiveness of local VC market, reduction in risk perceptions and support of entrepreneurship ecosystem especially initiatives supporting investment readiness for early stage women entrepreneurs."

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

According to IFC, Sarmayacar was established in 2016, as a syndicate of local and international angel investors pooling capital and expertise to back Pakistani startups. Sarmayacar is led by Rabeel Warraich and Bernhard Klemen, who bring together relevant investment, strategy and company building experience (~US$3bn aggregate direct equity investments ranging in size from US$25K early-stage venture to US$650M large-cap minority); wide connectivity in the country; and demonstrated ability to source and execute deals in Pakistan. 


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Sarmayacar Ventures Cooperatif
Rabeel Warraich
Founder, CEO
+92 (0) 333 520 5236
rabeel@sarmayacar.com
sarmayacar.com

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

How it works

How it works