Inconfin closes India impact fund on $77m
Incofin Investment Management, a Belgium-headquartered impact investor, has reached a final close of USD 77m on a fund that will target financial inclusion and agri-food in India.
The vehicle – known as the Incofin India Progress Fund – was launched in mid-2018 with a target of AUD 80m, according to AVCJ Research. A first close of USD 60m came in July 2021.
LPs in the first close included British International Investment (BII) and Proparco, as well as several Belgium family offices and institutions such as Korys Investment, the King Baudouin Foundation, and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO). SDG Frontier Fund, a fund-of-funds that co-invests with BIO, also contributed.
The only new investor named in the final close announcement is Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), a domestic development financial institution and fund-of-funds.
Almost half the corpus has already been deployed. The portfolio features Namdev, a micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) financier, SuperZop, a B2B procurement platform that connects farmers and retailers, Unnati, an agriculture-focused financial services provider, Sahyadri Farms, a fruit and vegetable producer, and Mufin Green, an electric vehicle financing specialist.
“The Indian economy will continue to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world in the next few years and the fund wants to support promising entrepreneurs who create tangible and sustainable impact and financial results through patient capital, mentoring and access to a global network,” Incofin said in a statement.
Incofin has been in India for 13 years. Previous funds active in the country include agRIF Fund, a USD 200m vehicle aimed at financial intermediaries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (CEENIS). It closed in 2015.
The other fund in AVCJ Research’s records, SDG Frontier Fund, is intended to drive sustainable economic growth in Asia and Africa. It reached a first close of EUR 25.3m (USD 26.9m) in 2020 against a target of EUR 50m. The plan was to back 5-12 private equity funds in total.
Incofin has USD 1.2bn in assets under management and operates in 65 countries through a network of five offices and 80 investment professionals. It has invested USD 2.7bn across 1,490 transactions involving more than 350 companies since its inception in 2001.
The firm makes commitments to funds, participates in co-investments, and provides debt finance and specialist agri-finance solutions.
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