Singapore's Heritas hits first close on Asia impact fund
Heritas Capital, a Singapore-based private equity firm sponsored by industrial conglomerate IMC Group, has reached a first close of $60 million on a pan-Asia impact investment fund.
The vehicle, which has a full target of $150 million, is anchored by IMC and the Tsao Family Office. The Tsao family established IMC in 1966 as International Maritime Containers and grew it into a business with interests spanning shipping, ports and logistics, offshore engineering, natural resources, and investment.
Heritas’ first two private equity funds were traditional growth capital vehicles that deployed $150 million across sectors such as healthcare and education. Earlier year, the firm announced that Heritas Growth Fund III would pursue an impact strategy, targeting healthcare, education, and technology assets that are aligned with select UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The fund will write checks of $5-20 million for high-growth companies, typically participating in Series B rounds onwards, where business models are proven and capital is needed to achieve scale.
Previous Heritas investments include Singapore dental chain Q&M Dental, Malaysia-based private hospital Timberland Medical Centre, Vietnam K-12 education business BHL Education, and telemedicine platforms Alodokter and MFine, which are located in Indonesia and India, respectively. Most recently, the firm took part in a $125 million Series C for Singapore-based Hummingbird Bioscience, having contributed to the Series A and B rounds via its venture capital fund.
“The first close of Heritas Growth Fund III is timely as COVID-19 has widened existing inequalities and devastated lives and livelihood; but also offered the opportunity to reconstruct more sustainable growth paradigms,” Chik Wai Chiew, CEO of Heritas, said in a statement.
“With the accelerated innovation and adoption of new technologies and business models, we see new investment opportunities to back high growth businesses across Asia delivering scalable access to affordable quality healthcare and education, in line with UN SDGs.”
Fund III also sees Heritas break new ground by adopting the variable capital company (VCC) structure, which was introduced by Singapore last year as a flexible option intended to fill gaps in the jurisdiction’s product offering. VCCs can be used as tax-efficient vehicles for fund management purposes and the Monetary Authority of Singapore is offering grants to encourage uptake.
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