LeapFrog Investments announced the closing of its fourth fund, with commitments and designated co-investments totalling $1.02 billion. And LeapFrog’s initial target for Fund IV was $1 billion.
The funding includes $808 million of primary fund commitments and up to $210 million of pre-allocated co-investment to accelerate high-impact healthcare and financial services companies in global growth markets. Along with an additional partnership with Prudential Financial (to invest in leading African financial services firm Alexander Forbes), this brings new allocations to the firm’s healthcare and financial services strategies across the recent fundraising cycle to over $1.15 billion. Plus, LeapFrog also recently launched a new climate investing strategy to provide green tools and technologies across Africa and Asia.
Some of the cornerstone investors for LeapFrog’s latest fund include top-tier institutional limited partners like Temasek, AIA, Prudential Financial, and development financial institutions, including the European Investment Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. And LeapFrog also drew significant commitments from global asset managers such as Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Van Lanschot Kempen, healthcare strategic investor Eli Lilly and Company, and foundations and endowments like the Ford Foundation and the IMAS Foundation, a purpose-led independent asset manager supporting INGKA Foundation’s key objective to fund IKEA Foundation’s long-term philanthropic programs.
Along with strong support from long-standing LeapFrog investors in prior funds, Fund IV also raised a significant amount of capital from new investors and broadened its investor base into new markets including Singapore, China, Japan, Austria, Norway, Oman and Turkey. And these relationships provide the foothold for LeapFrog to further promote authentic impact investing in diverse regions, expanding the commercial success and mission of impact investing across the globe.
Fund IV has a goal of supporting 100 million emerging consumers and producers to build better lives and has already reached 24 million (a 40% increase since investment) through five initial companies. All five investees have achieved strong revenue growth over the past year.
Redcliffe Labs, which is the first investment in Fund IV, rapidly grew into one of India’s largest and lowest cost diagnostics businesses, conducting over 20 million tests for Indian patients, using a decentralised network of 76 labs and over 1600 collection centres.
Sun King, which is the second investment in Fund IV, is the world’s largest off-grid solar financier and has provided 118 million people with access to solar energy in the process saving low-income households over $7.2 billion in energy expenses that would otherwise have paid for biomass, kerosene lamps and diesel generators.
bolttech, which is the fund’s third investment, pioneered the use of embedded insurance to offer tailored and low-cost policies across 35 markets, including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Another recent Fund IV investment Electronica Finance is helping power rapid MSME growth in India with loans for machines, equipment, rooftop solar and other purposes, and tripled assets under management over the last five years as it supports some of the 40 million Indian MSMEs that collectively deliver 30% of the country’s annual GDP.
More recently, Fund IV invested in Auxilo Finserve, a higher-education lender in South Asia that has seen 75% compounded annual growth in its loan book across the last three years, as more of India’s 700+ million people under the age of thirty seek training and education to enhance their skills and future earning potential.
LeapFrog’s companies deliver distinctive impact and robust returns, growing revenues on average 23% a year. And LeapFrog companies now reach 537 million people with essential services in 37 countries. The firm raised billions of dollars from global institutional investors, including a $500 million commitment by Temasek to LeapFrog and its growth equity funds.
KEY QUOTES:
“What LeapFrog’s team has achieved in this fundraising cycle is phenomenal, attracting world-class institutional investors, many from new markets, to our distinctive Profit with Purpose strategies. Recent years have seen one of the most challenging fundraising cycles for private equity this century, with capital raised in 2023 the lowest in the past six years. Yet LeapFrog has been able to distinguish itself through deep local sourcing and industry insight, distinctive value creation, authentic impact management and ultimately robust results. We will continue to build this magnet for forward-looking global investors. Together, we are in a unique position to pursue strong returns and positively change millions of lives.”
– Andy Kuper, Founder and CEO, LeapFrog Investments
“LeapFrog’s mission is underpinned by our committed, commercially astute, and socially responsible limited partners. We want to thank those investors today for putting their faith in the LeapFrog team to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns across exciting, innovative businesses in high-growth markets. Fund IV will be instrumental in scaling the impact champions of the future in financial services and healthcare, as well as building future prosperity and economic resilience for emerging consumers.”
– Dominic Barton, Chairman, LeapFrog Investments
