Press // Asia Impact Investment Fund

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Dealstreet Asia - Despite growing interest in Impact Investment, there’s been a lack of focus in emerging markets, particularly in Southeast Asia and in Joost’s recent conversation with DealStreet Asia, he reaffirmed the company’s stance that “Double Delta will strive to grow the capital base allocated to impact investments” .

Business Times - Over the past couple of years, investing for impact has gained traction, as more investors seek avenues for their investments that not only generate financial returns but also yield a social and/or environmental good.

Business Times - UOB Venture Management (UOBVM), the private equity arm of UOB, in collaboration with Credit Suisse, has raised more than US$60 million at the first close of its second impact fund that looks to improve the well-being and livelihoods of low-income communities in South-east Asia and China.

The Straits Times - Impact investing is catching on, even as the pandemic has caused greater poverty, unequal access to healthcare and climate risks. Impact investors, part of the wider sustainable investing universe, actively direct capital to ventures likely to make both measurable social or environmental impact and profits - ones that deliver a "double bottom line".

Business Times - There is a huge, untapped market opportunity in Asia, driven by under-served populations. Today, there are over one billion people in Asia who live in poverty. Yet, they are already spending over US$2 trillion annually on basic goods and services such as food, housing, clothing and telecommunications. 

The Investor - The Covid-19 pandemic has led to changes in the perception and behavior of pharma consumers. Hoang Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of Buymed, talks about the startup's innovations and opportunities arising for healthcare businesses in this context. 

IFC: IFC and Amartha, an Indonesian microfinance fintech platform, have developed an innovative funding solution to boost access to finance for women-owned microenterprises. The enables Amartha to tap financing that could be scaled up to $206 million.

Business Times - Ruangguru has become one of South-east Asia's largest tech-enabled education providers by helping the less-privileged. "There is a significant gap in terms of access and opportunities in urban and rural (areas)," said Usman, co-founder of Ruangguru.

Bloomberg - The investment marked a shift in the Foundation's strategy from primarily funding disease-specific programmes toward backing scalable technology platforms that improve access to primary healthcare in low and middle income countries.

The largest tutoring application in Indonesia Ruangguru won the prestigious ITU Global Industry Awards 2019 award in Budapest, Hungary.