ADAPT: Social Innovation for a More Resilient Future LatAm

Village Capital, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, has launched a call for applications for “ADAPT: Social Innovation for a More Resilient Future,” an accelerator program for impact-driven startups developing solutions that enable equity, democratize access to basic services, and strengthen communities and individuals in the face of climate change, economic inequality, and other challenges to their wellbeing.

The accelerator will take place from March to May, 2024. Applications close on February 9th. Full details and eligibility criteria can be found here.

Eligibility criteria

The call for applications is open to startups in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico that build solutions addressing one or more of the following challenges:

• Disaster Preparedness: Focused, but not limited to, natural disaster recovery solutions that can help community leaders prepare for and recover from climate-related and other natural disasters.
• Health and Wellness: We’re interested in startups that offer new and innovative ways to deliver services equitably, democratize access and reduce biases in health services, and build a more efficient and affordable healthcare system.
• Access to education: We are interested in startups working on increasing access to educational services, offering resources to upskill the working population, or working on solutions to digitize resources.
• Financial Resilience: We look for solutions that seize opportunities for improved financial security by equipping communities with the right tools to have a savings plan and to access financing when needed.

Eligible startups must:

• Have legal incorporation and operations as a for-profit entity in at least one Latin American country, with a particular focus on recruiting on countries identified as priorities for MetLife (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico).
• Have a market-based solution that tackles the challenges for financial resilience, disaster preparedness, and health and wellness in Latin America.
• Have one full-time founder and an executive team based in Latin America.
• Be in compliance with local fiscal and business law.
• Have a minimum viable product (MVP) and raised less than $1M in equity.
• Have meaningful customer or business validation (not limited to revenue; it can also be successful pilot studies, number of users, and/or strategic partnerships).

Program details

From March to May 2024, the selected startups will participate in three online and one in-person summit in Mexico City, as well as receive mentorship from potential strategic partners, investors, customers, and other founders and Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) in Latin America. Startups will also have an opportunity to have a one-on-one session with an investment analyst for feedback and support.

Two companies from each cohort will be selected by their peers and will receive $10,000 (USD) each from MetLife Foundation to further scale their solutions.