Indian-based impact investor, Aavishkaar, is planning to raise $150 million to invest in opportunities in Africa.
This was reported in the Mint newspaper citing Aavishkaar CEO Vineet Rai, that the firm will kick off the fund-raising by the middle of 2017.
“We are looking to raise between $100 million and $150 million for the African fund. We will start the fund-raising around the middle of 2017 and we expect to close it in 2018.”
This Africa fund will be Aavishkaar’s second overseas-focused fund. Its first overseas-focused fund is a $75 million Frontier fund which it is currently raising to invest in South and South-East Asia.
The African fund will invest in businesses that focus on the low-income group, especially in sectors such as agriculture, financial inclusion, fintech, energy, healthcare and education.
“The focus will be on making commercial returns while making a significant impact and we will use the sow-tend-reap strategy of multiple round investing and will be an early investor,” said Rai.
The fund will be making investments in ticket sizes as low as $0.5 million to as much as $5 million.
Aavishkaar is considering opportunities in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Ghana.
The African fund is part of the Intellecap-Aavishkaar group’s plans to increase its assets under management (AUM) across equity and debt businesses to $3.5 billion by 2024.
