Each month we are running pitch sessions featuring leading small business lenders and SME growth facilitators who present their MSMEs offerings in a 7-minute pitch to an audience of potential financial institution clients and partners looking for impactful fintech solutions.   

Through those sessions - run by the SME Finance Forum and powered by IFC - we foster collaboration between financial institutions, fintech companies, development finance institutions and investors.   

We have featured 130+ companies active in many different markets, attracted +2000 participants and generated many business leads, leading to investments, partnerships, and innovation advancement.   

This upcoming Marketplace session, cheduled on Wednesday, May 29th from 8 am to 9 am EDT, will focus on AgTech offering agroclimatic assessment tools for various stakeholders in the agri-ecosystem. 
The specific goal of the session is to show how financial service providers can leverage those prediction modeling tools to better mitigate risks and expand their agricultural portfolios.

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN?

• You are missing a tool in your fintech stack to accelerate your digital transformation and want to discover new products.
   
• You are looking to invest in impactful fintech companies that help SME grow.
   
• You are in search of new clients and investors for your innovative financing solutions.
   

COMPANIES PITCHING

• Agroclimatica

Agroclimatic platform that helps financial service provider identify and quantify the risks and opportunities associated with agricultural credits, insurance, and investments. 

• Yapu

YAPU is a German FinTech providing 1-stop off-the-shelf solutions for financial institutions to execute climate risk management as well as adaptation and nature finance. Core of its operating system is a multi-interface (App/Web/API) technological platform that can be integrated into existing processes and legacy IT systems with minimum effort.

• BioSense

BioSense Institute is a European Centre of Excellence for application of IT in agriculture. It performs research and development in the field of agricultural IoT devices, robotics, satellite image processing and AI with the aim of securing sustainability, profitability and food security.

• ADAPTA

ADAPTA empowers financial intermediaries to address climate risks in agriculture effectively. The company develops risk management models powered by AI and geospatial data that accurately assess climate and production risks in the agriculture sector. ADAPTA is pivotal in facilitating sustainable farming practices and ensuring global food security in the face of climate change. The company has operations in East Africa and plans to expand in North and Central America in 2025.  ADAPTA was seeded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• Satelligence

Satelligence enables businesses to transition to sustainable sourcing, reduce scope 3 emissions, and simplify compliance with deforestation-free commitments,
like EUDR. The company leverages satellite technology and supply chain data to provide insights into agricultural commodity supply chains for producers, traders, fmcg's and financial institutions. 

SPEAKERS

German Vegarra -  Founder and CEO - ADAPTA

German is the founder and CEO of ADAPTA Inc., a climate technology company developing risk management software for financial intermediaries to assess climate and production risks. ADAPTA also structures and provides blended climate finance solutions to commercial banks and Saccos focusing on agriculture.  ADAPTA launched in 2022 with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

German was a successful intrapreneur at the World Bank’s IFC, creating some of the IFC’s best-known products: the Global Trade Liquidity (GTLP) was the only G20-endorsed facility to address the Global Financial crisis in 2008. GTLP propelled IFC’s platform approach to address subsequent crises.  He also developed and launched the world’s first blended finance fund for agriculture, GAFSP. He splits his time between Washington, DC, and Nairobi, Kenya.

Oskar Marko - Assistant Director -  BioSense

Oskar an AI expert highly interested in the application of data analytics in agriculture. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from University of Novi Sad (UNS), Serbia, but also spent the 3rd year of undergraduate studies at City University London, where he did my final BEng project in signal processing. He led BioSense's team that developed novel data-driven algorithms for yield prediction, smart seed selection and optimal seed distribution, which secured the 1st prize for BioSense at Syngenta Crop Challenge 2017 and the support from CGIAR for their application in Africa. He has also been actively involved in acquisition and management of Horizon 2020 projects such as Antares (€30M), Cybele (€14M), Flexigrobots (€8M) and a project with NASA, teaching AI-related courses at UNS, and collaboration with industry (World Bank / IFC, Generali, MK...). He received the prize for the best telecommunications / electrical engineering student in Serbia in 2013 and was voted one of the 30 most successful Serbian people below the age of 30 by Bizlife in 2018. 

Christoph Jungfleisch -  Founder and Managing Director - YAPU Solutions

Christoph is founder and Managing Director of YAPU Solutions, that provides the world’s first operating system for digital Resilience and Adaptation Finance. He has built a career around promoting scalable inclusive climate and nature finance. He held various positions in the area of SME, micro- and smallholder finance as well as advised financial institutions on climate finance strategies and operations.

Nanne Tolsma - Business Development Director - Satelligence

Nanne received his M.Sc. degree in Hydrology from VU University Amsterdam in 2016. He represents Satelligence as Business Development Director.
He has worked for Satelligence since 2016 and started out as a business developer in Southeast Asia for two years, seeing the effects of deforestation first hand.
He leads Satelligence’s major business-to-business partnerships, and manages all customer-facing activities, including the work with Asset Managers, Investment Funds and other Financial Institutions.

MODERATOR

Panos Varangis - Principal Operations Officer - Financial Institutions Group at IFC

Panos Varangis is currently the Principal Operations Officer at the Financial Institutions Group, IFC where he leads the global work in agricultural finance. Prior to that Panos led IFC’s work in advising financial institutions to provide financial services to SMEs, agribusinesses, and farmers. Before joining IFC, Panos served as the Deputy CEO of the Agricultural Bank of Greece (2004-2009). From 1987 to 2004, he worked at the World Bank in various positions at the International Commodities Division, the International Trade Division, the Bank’s Research Department, and finally at the Agricultural and Rural Development Department where he oversaw a global program on commodity risk management. Panos holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in New York.