The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering investing some $1.5 billion in Ukraine’s banking sector, agribusiness and infrastructure, reports Reuters, citing a senior official of the World Bank’s affiliate.
The IFC has already provided nearly $400 million in support since the war broke out in February 2022, Alfonso Garcia Mora said on Friday in Kyiv as the World Bank Group was reopening its office in the capital.
The funding was essentially directed to foreign trade, agribusiness and the IT sector, which Garcia Mora believes could drive a “revolution in this country” as Ukraine will build back its economy.
“We have identified, we are working already on a pipeline of $1.5 billion (…) of companies which we can invest in. I would like to deliver this $1.5 billion in the next 12 to 18 months,” Reuters quoted Garcia Mora as saying.
The IFC officially announced a $5 million investment in Miratech, a major Ukrainian IT service company operating globally, alongside its local partner fund Horizon Capital.
“The investment will help the company scale and create new jobs, ultimately enhancing the country’s IT sector’s resilience and competitiveness. The financing, provided from IFC’s own account, builds on IFC’s landmark $60 million investment in Horizon Capital aimed at supporting fast-growing businesses that need capital to fund expansion.”
Other international financial institutions also have demonstrated their support of war-torn Ukraine. In April, Horizon Capital announced the interim closing of Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV (HCGF IV) with a record $254 million committed from IFC, EBRD, USAID and a variety of other organizations. The new fund targets “high-growth, high-impact tech and export-oriented companies” in Ukraine and Moldova in the fields of “light manufacturing, food processing, innovative consumer goods, fintech” and others.
On its side, almost simultaneously, the European Commission recently allocated €20 million to integrate Ukrainian startups to the EU ecosystem.
Last year, EBRD resumed a greentech grant program, offering €500,000 to a variety of Ukrainian startups.
Read a more detailed report on the IFC and Horizon Capital investment in Miratech in AIN Capital.
