Adventis' executives (left to right): Lesang Magang,
chairman; Rupert McCammon,
managing director; Leutlwetse Tumelo,
executive director; Dr Keith Jefferis,
non-executive director
- Asset management firm Adventis has launched two funds: the debt-based Africa Enhanced Income Fund and the Africa Equity Fund. The firm has agreed to purchase Africa Merchant Capital’s investment management business. The public equity fund will be re-named Adventis Africa Equity Fund.
- The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) is planning to launch two outcome funds, each expected to be valued at around US$1 billion by October 2018. The purpose is to provide better access to investment capital for social enterprise initiatives in India. The funds are named the India Education Outcomes Fund (IEOF) and the India Impact Fund of Funds (IIFF). The first fund seeks to improve education from kindergarten through to twelfth year learning, while the second aims to target a range of development goals.
- The Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF), which is accredited to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), is planning a collaborative project to improve the management of ecosystems for smallholder farmers in three rangeland areas of the Kunene region of Namibia. The proposal for a US$10 million implementation will be discussed next month at the fund’s next board meeting.
- Dao Foods is bringing together Dao Ventures, Moonspire Social Ventures, and New Crop Capital, to introduce a range of climate-friendly protein products into the Chinese market. The Chinese government aims to cut the country’s meat consumption in half by 2030. Dao Ventures, a Sino-US consortium of impact firms, has meanwhile facilitated more than US$200 million in impact investments and supported more than a thousand Chinese and international SMEs.
- Global impact investment firm Capria is looking for fund managers in Southeast Asia to reach a wider Asian market beyond India. It aims to get almost a third of its business from the region in the next few years. The firm is currently run via early-stage investor Unitus Seed Fund. Capria Network has eleven fund managers in emerging markets within its network, whom together aim to raise US$200 million in funding by December 2018. Capria expects to reach the first close of its $100 million fund soon.
- Impact investment group the Omidyar Network is backing Indian self-publishing platform Pratilipi to use its Hindi publishing services to increase the volume of online content in India’s native language to users. Around 90 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people read, write and speak in Hindi, yet most of their online access is presented in English. So far, more than 150,000 items have been published on the Pratilipi site by an estimated 22,000 users.
- Ascent Rift Valley Fund (ARVF), a small firm private equity fund investor, has signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in Auto Springs East Africa. The fund invests in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia and it marks the fund’s first investment in the automobile industry in the region. Ascent Rift Valley Fund is a US$80 million fund that invests in scalable fast growing enterprises in the region with investments ranging from US$2 million to US$15 million.
- Omnivore has raised US$46 million in its second fund for Indian agriculture. The goal of the vehicle is to boost returns and sustainability for more than 100 million smallholder farmers in India.
- Mediterrania Capital Partners, the private equity firm that invests in early-stage firms in North and sub-Saharan Africa, will use its third fund to obtain a stake in CAIRO SCAN, which provides medical imaging services and diagnostics in Egypt. CAIRO SCAN offers medical expertise and modern equipment with around 750 doctors and employees employed through its subsidiaries.