MPOWER Ventures Adds Gratio Capital To Investment Portfolio
Funds Support Development of Investment and Asset-Building Products for Underserved
AUSTIN, TX, June 1, 2009 - MPOWER Ventures, LP, a socially committed venture fund that invests in early-stage financial services companies focused on underserved markets, today announced Gratio Capital has joined its portfolio of companies. Gratio Capital is a New York City-based asset management company that is creating asset-building products to help underserved consumers achieve economic independence.
The current economic crisis has heightened awareness among Americans about the importance of savings – the national savings rate has reached a 14-year high of 5.7 percent1 – but the market offers few options for accumulating the financial resources needed to weather unexpected economic crises, improve standards of living or plan for the future. At current average interest rates well below two percent, most savings products offer little more than a place to store money, not to build assets. Investment products like mutual funds offer better returns for investors, but the minimums exclude most households from participating.
“The people who are most vulnerable in the current economic crisis are those with the fewest options for saving or investing their money,” said Gratio Capital co-founder Rimmy Malhotra, the company’s chief investment officer and general manger. “We founded Gratio to change that and believe technology and regulatory developments have reached a point where it’s possible to create innovative asset-building products that are economically and conceptually accessible and to deliver them profitably and responsibly to underserved consumers.”
MPOWER Ventures’ investment in Gratio Capital supports product and technology development, marketing and sales for the company’s entry into the U.S. market. It also gives Gratio Capital access to MPOWER Labs, the global research and development incubator and business accelerator serving MPOWER Ventures’ portfolio companies. With support from MPOWER Labs, Gratio Capital combines its expertise in managing investments and structuring asset-building products with MPOWER Labs’ proven ability to develop and launch innovative financial services designed for underserved consumers and markets. The value of MPOWER Ventures’ investment was not disclosed.
“This is a strategic investment for MPOWER Ventures,” said Bertrand Sosa, founding partner, MPOWER Ventures. “Investment and asset-building products represent an important new realm for financial innovation the private sector has not yet addressed but with great power to dramatically transform what’s possible for many Americans seeking a better, more secure financial future.”
Gratio Capital was co-founded by New York entrepreneurs Rimmy Malhotra and Yaron Ben-Zvi. Malhotra oversees all investment decisions for the Gratio Family of Mutual Funds and Gratio Core portfolios and brings extensive investment experience from firms including a New York-based hedge fund and the Citi Private Bank. As chief operating officer, Ben-Zvi leads marketing and operations, oversees client services and advises on regulatory compliance.
Gratio Capital will introduce its first products this year. For more information on Gratio Capital, visit www.gratiocapital.com.
1 “Consumer Spending Dips; Savings Rate Surges,” By Jeannine Aversa, The Associated Press, 6/1/2009 (http://tinyurl.com/mxq5cb)
About MPOWER Ventures
Based in Austin, Texas MPOWER Ventures (www.mpowerventures.com) is a socially committed venture capital firm dedicated to identifying and investing in early-stage businesses that create products and services for underserved populations. Grounded by the beliefs that private investment can solve persistent social problems and market-based solutions can realize change on the broadest scale, MPOWER Ventures is building a portfolio of companies whose products and services will foster empowerment, health and prosperity in underserved markets. MPOWER Ventures currently focuses its investment portfolio in financial services with investments in international payments, mobile payments, retail financial services and asset-building and investment products.
Media Contact
Meredith DeSpain Kelsey
(512) 531-1191
meredith.kelsey@mpowerlabs.com