LeapFrog Investments raises more than $1 billion for impact health investing

LeapFrog Investments said this week it has raised more than $1 billion in a new investment fund that targets high-impact health and financial-services companies in global growth markets.

The London-based private-equity firm said major investors for its latest fund include institutional limited partners such as Temasek, AIA, Prudential Financial and development financial institutions including the European Investment Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

LeapFrog also drew significant commitments from global asset managers such as Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and Van Lanschot Kempen, health-care strategic investor Eli Lilly and Co., and foundations and endowments such as 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.

“LeapFrog’s mission is underpinned by our committed, commercially astute, and socially responsible limited partners. 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,” said Dominic Barton, chairman of LeapFrog Investments.

In addition to 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.

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, the company said in a press release announcing closing of the fund.

“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,” said Andy Kuper, founder and CEO of LeapFrog Investments. “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. ”

Fund IV aims to support 100 million emerging consumers and producers to build better lives and has already reached 24 million through five initial investments. All five companies have achieved strong revenue growth over the past year, LeapFrog said.

Redcliffe Labs, the first investment in Fund IV, has rapidly grown into one of India’s largest and lowest cost diagnostics businesses, conducting over 20 million tests for Indian patients, using a decentralized network of 76 labs and over 1,600 collection centers.
Sun King 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.
Insurtech innovator bolttech has pioneered the use of embedded insurance to offer tailored and low-cost policies across 35 markets, including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Electronica Finance is helping power rapid micro, small and medium enterprises growth in India with loans for machines, equipment, rooftop solar and other purposes, and has 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.
Most 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.

Separately, LeapFrog also said it has launched a new climate investing strategy to provide green tools and technologies across Africa and Asia.