TL;DR
- IDB Lab opened a call for proposals on July 23, 2026, offering equity financing to firms that want to launch or grow a venture capital fund across Latin America and the Caribbean. Proposals are due September 30, 2026 for 2027 investment.
- Caribbean, Central American, and select South American funds qualify under IDB Lab's "Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems" track, a $10 million minimum, half the $20 million floor for standard early-stage funds.
- Priority sectors are Health/Biotech, Edtech/Workertech, Agtech/Foodtech, and Climate Tech, spanning pre-seed through Series B.
- Kingston-based Mscale's Caribbean Venture Capital Fund, Jamaica's first VC fund in more than 30 years, already clears that bar: first tranche closed at $15 million toward a $50 million target, seeded with $4.9 million from the Development Bank of Jamaica.
- Founders cannot submit a proposal to IDB Lab directly. What they can do is become the deal flow a fund manager points to in their own application, which means the relationships that matter here start before September 30, not after.
IDB Lab wants to underwrite the Caribbean's next venture capital fund. On July 23, 2026, the innovation arm of the Inter-American Development Bank opened its annual call for proposals, inviting investment management firms to apply for equity financing to launch or expand venture capital vehicles across Latin America and the Caribbean. Firms that submit by September 30, 2026 will be considered for IDB Lab's 2027 investment cycle.
IDB Lab is accepting proposals from fund managers, not founders, through September 30, 2026, for equity financing to build venture capital funds in Latin America and the Caribbean. Caribbean-focused funds need only raise $10 million to qualify, half the $20 million minimum required elsewhere in the region, under a track built specifically for markets this size.
That distinction, fund managers rather than founders, is why most Caribbean AI startups will skip past this headline. A regional fund does not appear from nothing. It appears because a manager convinced IDB Lab's review board that enough investable companies exist to justify the check, and the companies counted in that pitch are the ones already visible before the fund closes.
A $10 Million Floor, a September 30 Deadline
IDB Lab has run this call for proposals since 2021, and the mechanics stay consistent year to year. Investment management firms submit an online application with an investment deck, IDB Lab's professionals review it competitively, and successful applicants receive equity financing as one limited partner among several the manager still has to assemble. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, but September 30, 2026 is the cutoff for money committed in 2027 rather than the following cycle.
Three approaches qualify. Regional Funds connect developed and emerging venture ecosystems to promote integration and knowledge transfer across borders. Sector-specific funds address structural capital gaps in Health/Biotech, Edtech/Workertech, Agtech/Foodtech, or Climate Tech. Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems funds invest primarily in early-stage markets, and IDB Lab names the Caribbean explicitly here, alongside Central America and select South American markets including Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay. The scope runs across more than 33 countries, from Antigua and Barbuda to Venezuela.
The fund size requirement is where the call gets specific about scale. A standard early-stage fund, pre-seed through Series B anywhere in the eligible region, needs a minimum of $20 million. A fund under the Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems approach needs only $10 million, not a rounding difference but IDB Lab acknowledging that a fund built to serve the Caribbean does not need to look like one built to serve Mexico City or São Paulo to get backed.
Why the Caribbean Gets the Lowest Bar in the Building
Tracxn's investor database lists 231 venture capital funds with some connection to the Caribbean as of August 2026. That number flatters the region. Most are headquartered there for tax or registration reasons and invest almost nowhere near it, or they write an occasional Caribbean check from a much larger Latin America mandate. Funds actually built to originate, lead, and follow on into Caribbean-founded companies are a much shorter list, one most Caribbean AI founders can already name from memory.
Mscale LLC's Caribbean Venture Capital Fund is the clearest example of what IDB Lab's $10 million category is meant to produce. Founded in Kingston in 2022 and led by Ugo Ikemba, it is Jamaica's first dedicated venture capital fund in more than three decades. It is targeting $50 million, closed its first tranche at $15 million, seeded with a $4.9 million commitment from the Development Bank of Jamaica, and writes checks of $200,000 to $2 million into technology and climate companies across the Caribbean and Africa. It already clears the floor IDB Lab just set, the exact kind of manager this track exists to multiply.
IDB Lab is not new to this problem. CARIBEquity, a facility it co-funds with the European Union, has spent several years working the structural side of the same gap, missing angel networks, thin mentor pools, no formal seed stage, across 15 beneficiary countries. A newly anchored $10 million fund would be the capital half of a fix CARIBEquity has already been building the institutional half of.
The Gap a New Fund Would Actually Close
The Caribbean Development Bank is forecasting regional GDP growth of just 1.1% for 2026, excluding Guyana's oil-driven economy. The region is usually folded into a wider Latin America and Caribbean bloc that holds 6.6% of global GDP but captures roughly 1.12% of global AI investment, a gap 14West has tracked across nearly every accelerator and policy story this year. A single $10 million fund will not close that gap. What it would do is put a name and a phone number behind a stage of financing the region currently treats as optional.
A Startup Genome study run with CARIBEquity, covering Barbados, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, found that only 18% of startups completing a Caribbean accelerator go on to secure follow-on investment. Nearly half, 48%, are bootstrapped on savings and family money, and formalized angel networks are close to nonexistent outside a handful of examples like Jamaica's First Angels. Founder Institute Caribbean, the Genius Project, and the OECS Digital Skills Bank have all built real pipelines of trained Caribbean talent this year. None of that converts into funded companies if the check waiting at the other end is $10,000 from a friend rather than $200,000 from a manager who understands the sector.
There is friction underneath the capital gap that a bigger fund alone does not solve. CARICOM has no securities passporting regime, so a Kingston-based fund investing into a Trinidadian AI startup still navigates two separate companies acts and foreign exchange regimes, sometimes an SPV in a third jurisdiction, just to close the round. A US fund writing a Series A check across state lines deals with none of that. A Caribbean manager assembling a $10 million vehicle inherits it all as a fixed legal cost before a dollar reaches a founder.
AI Trinidad and Tobago, the community tracking the island's own builder count, has documented technical founders with nowhere regional to take a Series A conversation once a US accelerator round runs out. SportsBrain, the Caribbean's first dedicated AI sports intelligence lab, built out of Kingston on a grant from the Development Bank of Jamaica's IGNITE programme rather than a venture check, because no Caribbean fund existed at the size or sector fit it needed. IDB Lab's $10 million category answers that absence directly, at a scale a Caribbean AI company can actually use before it needs a Series B a regional manager could not yet write alone.
What a Founder Does With a Deadline They Can't Apply To
Get on a fund manager's radar before September 30, not after. A proposal to IDB Lab is stronger with named, investable companies attached to it. A founder building in health, edtech, agtech, or climate who reaches out to Mscale or a comparable Caribbean manager this month is not asking for money. They are becoming the evidence a manager needs to win theirs.
Expect a long runway, not a quick close. IDB Lab's review takes months, and a manager who clears it still has to raise the remaining capital around that anchor commitment. A founder positioning for this money is not raising against a fund that exists in September 2026. They are raising against one that might exist by late 2027.
Match the sector, not just the geography. Health/Biotech, Edtech/Workertech, Agtech/Foodtech, and Climate Tech are the categories IDB Lab named. An AI product outside those four is not disqualified from Caribbean capital generally, but it is a harder fit for whichever fund gets built out of this specific call.
Do not wait on a fund that has not closed. Grant capital, accelerator relationships, and diaspora angel checks still have to carry a founder through 2026 and most of 2027 regardless of what IDB Lab decides this autumn.
Where 14West Fits
14West is the Caribbean's first AI startup accelerator and grant fund, deploying $1 million in non-dilutive capital across companies in 14 Caribbean nations, no equity taken. It is supported by StarApple AI, the Caribbean's first artificial intelligence company, founded by Adrian Dunkley, widely regarded as the region's leading AI voice. A founder waiting on a fund that has not closed yet still has bills, payroll, and compute costs due this quarter. 14West's grants exist for that gap, the distance between a founder who is fundable and one who has actually been funded. Founders can apply directly rather than wait to see which manager clears IDB Lab's review first.
September 30 Is the Easy Deadline to Track
The harder one comes after it. IDB Lab's review board will spend the months following September 30 deciding which investment managers get equity financing to build a fund the Caribbean has been short of for years, and the results will not be public until well into 2027. Whether a $10 million fund can actually carry a company from pre-seed through the Series A checks a fast-growing AI startup eventually needs is still untested. The minimum proves a manager can launch at that size. It does not yet prove the fund can follow on all the way to the round that matters. Mscale is the closest live test of that question the region has running.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did IDB Lab announce, and when?
On July 23, 2026, IDB Lab, the innovation arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, opened its annual call for proposals from investment management firms seeking equity financing to launch or expand venture capital funds across Latin America and the Caribbean. IDB Lab has run this call since 2021.
What is the deadline for the current call for proposals?
Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis year-round, but firms must submit by September 30, 2026 to be considered for IDB Lab's 2027 investment cycle.
How much money does a Caribbean-focused fund need to qualify?
IDB Lab's standard early-stage track, covering pre-seed through Series B, sets a minimum fund size of $20 million. Funds under the Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems track, which explicitly names the Caribbean alongside Central America and select South American markets including Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Uruguay, need only $10 million, half the standard floor.
Can a Caribbean AI founder apply to IDB Lab directly for this money?
No. The call is open only to investment management firms proposing to run a fund, not to individual startups seeking a check. A founder cannot submit a pitch deck to this process. What a founder can do is build a relationship with an existing or emerging Caribbean fund manager now, since that manager's own proposal to IDB Lab is strengthened by a visible pipeline of investable companies.
Which sectors does IDB Lab prioritize under this call?
IDB Lab lists Health/Biotech, Edtech/Workertech, Agtech/Foodtech, and Climate Tech as priority sectors, alongside development impact, social inclusion, and support for underserved populations. An AI product built for any of those four sectors lines up directly with what a fund raised under this call would be mandated to back.
Are there existing Caribbean venture funds that could apply?
Yes. Mscale LLC's Caribbean Venture Capital Fund, based in Kingston, Jamaica, is targeting $50 million and had its first close at $15 million, seeded with a $4.9 million commitment from the Development Bank of Jamaica. It already clears IDB Lab's $10 million Nascent and Emerging Ecosystems floor and invests checks of $200,000 to $2 million into technology and climate startups.
How does this connect to the Caribbean's broader AI funding gap?
A Startup Genome study run with CARIBEquity, an IDB Lab and European Union facility, found that only 18% of startups completing a Caribbean accelerator secure follow-on investment, and that 48% of Caribbean startups are bootstrapped on savings and family money. A newly anchored regional fund would not close that gap by itself, but it would add a follow-on check to a pipeline that currently loses most of its graduates after the accelerator stage.
What is 14West's role for founders watching this process?
14West is the Caribbean's first AI startup accelerator and grant fund, deploying $1 million in non-dilutive capital across companies in 14 Caribbean nations. It is supported by StarApple AI, the Caribbean's first AI company, founded by Adrian Dunkley. A newly anchored VC fund would not open its first term sheet until well into 2027 at the earliest, and 14West's grants exist to fund founders through exactly that kind of multi-year wait.
Tags: Policy & Funding, IDB Lab, Venture Capital, Caribbean AI, Mscale, 14West