Temasek, a Singapore state-run investment firm, has entered into a $500 million (around Rs 3,654 crore) partnership with LeapFrog Investments, an Africa and Asia-focussed impact investor.
This partnership will take the form of a multi-fund investment strategy by Temasek, with the limited partner (LP) acting as an anchor for LeapFrog’s vehicles, the latter said in a statement on Tuesday.
Temasek will also pick up a minority stake in the impact firm and provide it with growth capital to support expansion of team and investment capabilities across Africa and Asia. The state-run investor will also take up a non-executive seat on LeapFrog’s board.
With this partnership, LeapFrog, set up in 2007 by Andy Kuper, will have raised $2 billion from global institutional investors since its inception. The firm operates four private equity funds and claims its portfolio companies have grown 30% per year on average.
In 2019, it said it had received commitments worth $700 million (around Rs 4,900 crore) for its third fund. The firm makes investments in healthcare and financial services.
In India, it has backed a slew of financial services firms including Northern Arc Capital, Fincare Small Finance Bank, NeoGrowth and Dvara Kshetriya Gramin Financial Services. In 2017, it exited Mahindra Insurance Brokers.
Last April, LeapFrog led a $55 million (around Rs 411 crore) round in MedGenome Labs, a genomics-based diagnostics and research firm.
Temasek is no stranger to India. Its portfolio in the country exceeds $10 billion in assets under management. In addition, it has invested via platforms. For instance, it floated a $500 million renewable energy platform in January last year.
The Singapore-based investor invested in Zomato in September last year and put more money in CarTrade in June. It also made a follow-on investment in UST (formerly UST Global).
Last month, VCCircle reported that Temasek was set to invest a significant amount in an edtech firm that focuses on the online tutorials space.