Press release -
Swedfund invests to drive digitalisation and innovation in Africa and South and Southeast Asia
Swedfund invests USD 32 million in Apis Growth Markets Fund III, a fund serving low- and middle-income consumers across Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
The investment contributes to enhanced digitalisation and innovation as well as improved access, quality, and affordability of financial services and to the creation of decent jobs.
"Through this investment we further contribute to the growth of companies with innovative and digitally enabled business models and to generation of jobs, tax revenues, and good business practices. This is our third investment in an Apis fund since 2015, a fund manager with a strong financial record", says Sofia Gedeon, Investment Director Sustainable Enterprises, Swedfund International.
The fund will invest in countries such as Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Through Apis’ fund structure, the investment contributes to further capital mobilization to the targeted growth markets, acting as a bridge for additional global capital that otherwise rarely would access them. This makes the impact of the investment larger. Apis has an established ESG- (Environment, Social, Governance) and Impact Agenda, which puts the investment well in line with Swedfund’s strategy. By setting clear requirements and working together with the fund, the investment will contribute to developed sustainability aspects, such as increased women economic empowerment and decent jobs.
About the fund
Apis was established in 2014 as a growth focused fund manager targeting companies in the intersection of finance and technology in Asia and Africa. Apis Growth Markets Fund III is targeting a fund size of USD 500m. The fund is seeking to allocate capital to 10 to 15 investments, with an average ticket size of USD 60-70m (including capital mobilized from a separate fund with a global mandate, targeting the same sectors, that will co-invest alongside Apis Growth Markets Fund III). It is expected that together Apis Growth Markets Fund III and the global fund will deploy over USD 800m into growth markets investments. Swedfund is investing alongside other DFIs such as BII, DEG, IFC and OeEB.
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About Swedfund
Swedfund is Sweden's development finance institution with the mission to contribute to poverty reduction through sustainable investments in developing countries. Our investments in the private sector contribute to a growing number of jobs offering decent working conditions and increases access to essential products and services like electricity and healthcare. Climate and gender are themes that permeates our investment process.
Swedfund invests in energy & climate, financial inclusion and increased access to capital for micro, small and medium-sized companies as well as healthcare and digitalization.
We are part of Swedish development corporation, and we measure and report all our results. As a state-owned company, Swedfund is managed by the Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation. We are financed through reflows from the portfolio and capital injections from the development assistance budget. The return from the portfolio finances our operations and we reinvest reflows from our portfolio in new projects, i.e. we recycle our capital injections.
For more information: please visit www.swedfund.se/en| www.edfi.eu
