PayPal backs Quona, Sweef impact funds
PayPal has confirmed LP commitments of undisclosed size to funds managed by financial inclusion-focused Quona Capital and women-led businesses specialist Sweef Capital.
Both funds will have a significant Asian agenda. US-headquartered Quona is currently expanding its presence in the region with a focus on India and Indonesia. Quona co-founder and Asia strategy leader Ganesh Rengaswamy recently relocated from India to Singapore to build out the Southeast Asia team.
Singapore-based Sweef spun out from US impact private equity firm SEAF in 2021 in the midst of raising a fund for the parent company’s Southeast Asia gender-lens investment unit. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are the preferred geographies.
Quona is raising an opportunity fund, reportedly targeting USD 75m, one year after closing its third flagship fund on USD 332m, beating a USD 250m target.
The firm was founded in 2014 with initial funding from Accion and has gradually asserted its independence with each vintage. Development finance institutions have historically featured prominently in the LP base.
The launch of the fund coincided with India-based associate Varun Malhotra being elevated to partner and co-lead for Asia alongside Rengaswamy. He sees significant investment opportunity in the region in shifting trade routes and cross-border business models.
Sweef is targeting USD 100m for its debut vehicle, which launched under SEAF in 2020 and reached a first close of USD 16.2m in early 2021. The fund had raised USD 35m as of November 2022, when Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade came in as an investor.
AIIB provided USD 10m as recently as last March. Other LPs include Global Affairs Canada, Tattarang, an impact investor set up by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest, and Australia’s Scalzo Family Office.
Sweef LPs also include Pædagogernes Pension (PBU), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Emerging Market Impact Investment Fund (EMIIF), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Global Affairs Canada, Tattarang, and Australia’s Scalzo Family Office.
Sweef made its first investment in May, providing an undisclosed sum to Vietnam’s Teky Alpha, a children’s technical academy that delivers courses to some 25,000 pupils. Several LPs co-invested, including PBU, ESCAP, EMIIF, and AIIB.
The investments are part of PayPal's 2021 USD 108m commitment under the UN Generation Equality Forum to advance financial inclusion and economic empowerment for women and girls. They are the first of a forthcoming USD 100m in capital investments by the company into funds and other initiatives led by women or focused on serving women.
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