Deadline: October 23, 2025
The Blended Finance Accelerator for Fund Managers (A4FM) is designed to support fund and asset managers in developing and scaling blended finance vehicles to mobilize institutional capital into emerging and developing markets.
Focus areas include skill building, catalytic grants, acceleration support, blended finance structures, fund archetypes, legal and financial structuring, impact measurement frameworks, investment pipeline development, capital mobilization, and advancing gender equality.
Institutional investors manage over $120 trillion globally, yet only a small fraction flows into emerging and developing economies (EMDEs), which are among the fastest-growing regions in the world. Despite rapid GDP growth and rising capital market financing in middle- and low-income countries, capital flows remain constrained by risk perceptions, limited track records, and structuring complexity. Blended finance provides a solution by combining catalytic capital with commercial investment to mitigate risk, align incentives, and make EMDE strategies investable at scale.
The A4FM program equips both first-time managers and established firms with the tools, expertise, and partnerships to create scalable, bankable investment vehicles. Participants gain practical insights through virtual and in-person training sessions, case studies, peer learning, and access to Convergence’s global market data and practitioner expertise. The program helps institutional investors diversify portfolios, enter high-growth markets, and access frontier sectors such as digital infrastructure, healthcare, education, climate, and financial inclusion.
Applicants can access catalytic grants in three stages: scoping, proof-of-concept/pilot, and scale-up/expansion. Stage I grants fund feasibility exploration, market scoping, impact analysis, and early stakeholder consultations. Stage II grants support design refinement, investor outreach, legal document preparation, and investment pipeline development. Stage III grants provide operational funding for fund expansion, replication, or improvement in new markets, contingent upon demonstrating first-close results and investor interest. Grant sizes range up to CAD $260,000 for Stage I and CAD $500,000 for Stage II, with non-repayable and conditionally repayable terms, respectively, and grantees must contribute at least 10% of total costs.
Eligibility extends to fund managers, asset managers, or investment management/advisory firms partnering with such managers, with projects targeting EMDEs as defined by the OECD-DAC list, particularly least developed countries and lower middle-income countries. Proposed solutions must deliver a clear development impact and mobilize private capital at scale, demonstrating replicable financial structures and gender-sensitive approaches.
Applications are evaluated based on track record and capabilities, market opportunity and additionality, target size and potential to scale, development impact, commercial viability and path to financial close, and strategic partnership and stakeholder support. Emphasis is placed on bankable structures, measurable impact, risk management, and the ability to leverage A4FM support to unlock capital flows in EMDEs.
For more information, visit Convergence.
