Mexico’s state-backed fund of funds wants to channel billions into venture, credit and infrastructure to support 700,000 new jobs in three years.
Mexico’s main “fund of funds” is stepping out of the background and into the spotlight. The vehicle, backed by the country’s development banks, has named Liliana Reyes Castrejón as its new director general and is tying its strategy openly to the federal government’s Plan Mexico agenda. The fund already has more than 2 billion dollars in commitments and about 1,150 million dollars deployed alongside private investors into productive sectors across the country. Now it is setting a fresh, headline number: a target of 700,000 jobs over the next three years.
Reyes is not new to this space. She comes from leading the Mexican private equity association, where she spent years working with fund managers that rely on long-term capital to finance everything from early-stage tech companies to mid-sized manufacturers. Under her watch, the development fund plans to commit resources to around 20 new vehicles, including venture capital, growth capital and private credit funds, as well as select energy and infrastructure projects. The goal is to make the fund an active bridge between public development money and private investors who can move quickly on viable projects.
Behind the big job target is a track record that is easier to measure. Since it was created in 2006 by four federal development institutions, the fund has become one of the most important domestic investors in private equity and venture capital in Mexico. It has taken stakes in more than one hundred investment funds and joined dozens of co-investments, reaching about 1,460 companies nationwide. Those projects are estimated to have supported more than 800,000 jobs, giving some credence to the idea that a focused, well-capitalized expansion could move the employment needle again.
At the same time, the macro backdrop is far from easy. Official forecasts for 2025 were revised downward earlier this year, with the Finance Ministry now expecting growth in a corridor between 1.5 and 2.3 percent, and the central bank projecting even weaker expansion. That puts pressure on officials to turn ambitious industrial plans into real investment on the ground. For the development banks behind this fund, channeling capital into productive projects is one of the few levers they can pull that does not rely on annual budget fights.
Mexico development fund and Plan Mexico
Plan Mexico, presented at the start of this administration, lays out a national push to raise investment, attract nearshoring and climb into the world’s top ten economies. Government documents set a goal of 1.5 million new jobs in specialized manufacturing and strategic sectors by 2030, with a strong emphasis on increasing the share of goods and services produced inside the country. The development fund’s 700,000-job target would represent a significant slice of that ambition if it is met.
To align with that roadmap, the fund is focusing on sectors that the plan flags as priorities. These include clean energy, electromobility, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, aerospace, health and technology services, as well as supply-chain strengthening for companies that want to relocate production from Asia to Mexico. The idea is not only to finance large, emblematic projects, but to back specialist funds that can reach mid-sized firms and high-growth startups scattered across different regions.
Reyes has described the fund’s new role in simple terms: to be an investment arm that “accompanies” the country’s development strategy. In practice, that means acting as an anchor investor so that private funds can raise larger vehicles, and using co-investments to crowd in money from pension funds, multilaterals and international investors. The fund’s history shows it can do this at scale, but matching the speed of private capital while keeping strong risk controls remains a challenge.
Another key test is whether the new push broadens the benefits beyond the country’s usual industrial corridors. Plan Mexico calls for new development poles in states such as Campeche, Chihuahua, Hidalgo, Quintana Roo, Sonora and Veracruz, designed to attract factories and logistics hubs to areas that have not been big winners from globalization in the past. For the development fund, that means looking at managers and projects that can operate outside Mexico City and the traditional northern manufacturing belt, without neglecting due diligence.
Can billions in capital deliver quality jobs
Even if the 700,000-job target is reached, the quality of those positions will matter. Plan Mexico talks about “jobs of quality,” linked to formal employment, social security and better wages. Funds that receive backing from the development vehicle will be expected to demonstrate not only financial returns, but also how their portfolio companies treat workers and communities. In recent years, the fund has entered alliances aimed at raising standards on gender and diversity in the funds it supports, pointing to a gradual shift toward more impact-aware investing.
For now, many details still depend on money that has yet to be fully deployed. Before the end of this year, the development banks that own the fund must define how much fresh capital each will commit. That decision will determine how large a new wave of investments the vehicle can make between 2026 and 2028, and how aggressive it can be in backing first-time fund managers or riskier innovation projects. Reyes and her team will have to balance the pressure for quick results with the realities of building portfolios that will take years to mature.
What is clear is that Mexico is trying to use every available tool to turn global attention into domestic investment at a time of modest growth and strong competition from other emerging markets. A well-run, well-capitalized development fund is not a silver bullet. But if it can keep its promises on transparency, professional management and sector focus, it could become one of the most important levers behind Plan Mexico’s promise of more and better jobs.
