ISC-Flat6Labs Tunis (IFC-41699)

Countries
  • Tunisia
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
U
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
Jan 10, 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
ANAVA SEED FUND
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 Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 1.00 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 Feb 14, 2019

Disclosed by Bank Nov 21, 2018

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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.

Anava Seed Fund (“Flat6Labs Tunis” or the “Fund”) is a startup accelerator and early stage venture capital fund raising TND 30 million to invest in around 90 early stage companies in Tunisia. This investment will fall under the IFC Startup Catalyst initiative, which supports entrepreneurship and innovation at the earliest stages.

According to bank documents, the following are the expected development impacts of the fundung:

  1. Address Funding Gap: Flat6Labs Tunis will support approximately 90 early stage companies, helping to fill the void of early stage capital. More broadly, by investing in incubators/accelerators and early stage funds via the IFC Startup Catalyst program, IFC aims to help build and support local, sustainable ecosystems for entrepreneurship and venture capital.
  2. Catalyze and Support the VC Ecosystem: Through its bootcamp, acceleration cycles, early stage investments, and various outreach events, Flat6Labs Tunis will help to accelerate the development of the nascent VC ecosystem in Tunisia.
  3. Increased Inclusion of Women: IFC’s investment will include funding from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (“We-Fi”) aimed at expanding the inclusion of women entrepreneurs into the VC ecosystem through two distinct channels: capacity building and demonstration effect.
  4. Job Creation and Economic Growth: Since its inception, the Flat6Labs platform has generated more than 1,000 jobs across the MENA region. Similarly, the Fund’s graduates are expected to create high-skilled jobs to match the highly educated workforce in Tunisia and spur economic growth.

Anava Seed Fund was launched in March 2017 and is a partnership between Flat6Labs for Incubators (“Flat6Labs”), Le15, and Meninx Holding with the aim of stimulating and supporting the startup ecosystem in Tunisia and North Africa. The Fund is managed by Flat6Labs Tunisia. The shareholders of Flat6Labs Tunisia include Flat6Labs, Meninx Holding, the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie, and the Le15 founders.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

(i)   Address Funding Gap: Flat6Labs Tunis will support approximately 90 early stage companies, helping to fill the void of early stage capital. More broadly, by investing in incubators/accelerators and early stage funds via the IFC Startup Catalyst program, IFC aims to help build and support local, sustainable ecosystems for entrepreneurship and venture capital.(ii)   Catalyze and Support the VC Ecosystem: Through its bootcamp, acceleration cycles, early stage investments, and various outreach events, Flat6Labs Tunis will help to accelerate the development of the nascent VC ecosystem in Tunisia.(iii)   Increased Inclusion of Women: IFC’s investment will include funding from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (“We-Fi”) aimed at expanding the inclusion of women entrepreneurs into the VC ecosystem through two distinct channels: capacity building and demonstration effect.(iv)    Job Creation and Economic Growth: Since its inception, the Flat6Labs platform has generated more than 1,000 jobs across the MENA region. Similarly, the Fund’s graduates are expected to create high-skilled jobs to match the highly educated workforce in Tunisia and spur economic growth.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

 The proposed IFC equity commitment is up to $1 million, not to exceed 20% of total commitments. Flat6Labs Tunis is targeting total commitments of TND 30 million. 

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 Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie Investor -
- - - - Flat6Labs Investor -
- - - - Le15 Investor -
- - - - Meninx Holding Investor -

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.

Flat6Labs Tunisia 
Dina el-Shenoufy 
Deputy General Manager 
+216 53 689 632 
tunis@flat6labs.com 
2nd FloorTunis, Tunisia 1000 
http://www.flat6labstunis.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