Agora Partnerships was founded in 2005 by students at Columbia Business School and entrepreneurs in Nicaragua. The organization has played a founding role in the impact investing and entrepreneurship industry. Highlights include helping to co-found ANDE, launching the first Latin American ANDE conference, prototyping the first GIIRS methodology, and launching the first early stage impact investing fund in Latin America, the Agora Venture Fund (AVF). The AFV closed its first and only round of $525,000 from 12 investors in 2007. By 2011, the fund had made over $600,000 in investments, including re-investments into 12 companies. The seven year fund will wind up in 2015. Based on lessons learned from the fund experience and new developments in the industry, Agora concluded that the greatest barrier to entrepreneurial growth was getting the capital to the right entrepreneurs. To address this challenge Agora designed an accelerator program focused specifically on delivering the right mix of of knowledge, networks, and capital to entrepreneurs. In 2011, Agora launched its first Accelerator class and hosted its first Impact Investing in Action conference. That same year Agora partnered with Thriive Capital to create an accelerator program for small businesses in Nicaragua.    more / less