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Singapore's Temasek partners with impact investor LeapFrog

By Narinder Kapur

  • 09 Mar 2021
Singapore's Temasek partners with impact investor LeapFrog
Credit: 123RF.com

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. 

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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. 

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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). 

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Last month, VCCircle reported that Temasek was set to invest a significant amount in an edtech firm that focuses on the online tutorials space. 

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