The Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets, or SIFEM, invested $12.5 million in Acre Impact Capital’s first Export Finance Fund. Acre, a Mauritius and London-based infrastructure debt investor, is helping critical infrastructure projects in Africa get off the ground by providing catalytic commercial capital that unlocks financing from export credit agencies. Export credit agencies are often willing to finance up to 85% of infrastructure developments that facilitate the movement of goods overseas; Acre provides the required remaining capital. Acre says it is able to mobilize at least $5.60 in private capital for every dollar invested.
The firm is working toward a $300 million goal for the Export Finance Fund. Other LPs include Trimtab Impact, Ceniarth, South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank, the European Investment Bank and FSDAi. “All our limited partners play a catalytic role,” Acre’s Hussein Sefian told ImpactAlpha (see, “Starting with the problem, impact-first managers are returning impact investing to its roots“).
Acre’s investors are supporting “a new asset class – export finance infrastructure loans – which helps demonstrate to the market that this is a viable product,” Sefian said. Their engagement, he said, “will help close the financing gap for African infrastructure.”
Catalytic capital
The Swiss development finance institution backed Acre as part of a set of deals that closed at the end of 2025. It cited Acre’s focus on climate-related infrastructure for underserved populations, while aiming for market-rate returns. Acre tracks the number of individuals gaining access to water, renewable energy and healthcare facilities, and maps that data to gender and income metrics when possible.
SIFEM also invested in Circulate Capital’s second Asia fund, which invests in businesses improving plastic waste management and recycling. Lendable’s Transportation and Energy Fund provides asset-backed credit to emerging market businesses supporting the adoption of electric mobility, renewable energy and climate-resilient food systems (see, “Lendable returns to asset-backed lending for the green transition”). Helios Investors’ fifth fund invests in growth-stage digital infrastructure companies, financial services companies, and tech-enabled business services in Africa.