ADB launches venture arm

ADB Ventures is now raising its debut fund with a target of $50 million and claims to be fielding interest from a number of bilateral and multilateral organizations.

Confirmed LPs include Finland's Nordic Development Fund, the Australian government, and Climate Investment Funds, a World Bank-administrated investor that has agreed a $20 million contribution along with $46 million in potential co-investment support, according to a release.

ADB Ventures Investment Fund 1 will target cleantech and related financial, agricultural, and health technology categories with a focus on addressing the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). "Our vision is for ADB Ventures to become the region's largest impact technology platform, crowding in more than $1 billion of risk capital to achieve the SDGs by 2030," Mike Barrow, ADB's director-general for the private sector, said in a statement.

The vehicle is expected to begin investing in the second quarter of 2020 with an emphasis on small and frontier markets. It will operate in concert with a separately funded start-up support program that will mobilize $12 million over a three-year period and leverage ADB resources including a seed-level grant program for de-risking technology pilots and ADB Venture Lab, a suite of corporate-connected accelerators and partnerships.

ADB focuses on reducing poverty in Asia Pacific by promoting economic and environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration through both direct investment and fund commitments. Recent private equity activity includes LP support for funds raised by Creador, Mizuho Bank, and Ascent Capital.

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• Topics
• GPs
• LPs
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Cleantech
• Asia
• Asian Development Bank
• Financial Services
• Agriculture
• healthcare
• seed