British International Investment

Ankur Capital II

Central AsiaIndiaSouth AsiaBusiness and consumer servicesConstruction and real estateFinancial servicesFood and agricultureHealthInfrastructureTechnology and telecoms

Ankur Capital is an impact-oriented investor that targets underserved populations at scale by providing economic opportunities through jobs, market access and improved goods and services particularly in agriculture and healthcare sectors.

This investment was made when British International Investment was named CDC Group.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Support economic opportunities by improved market access and/or productivity (SDG target 2.3).
  • Support the provision of healthcare services (SDG 3), education (SDG 4) and financial inclusion (SDG target 1.4).

How?

How?

CDC's investment will allow the fund to make seed-stage investments in c. 20 early-stage enterprises primarily in healthcare and agriculture as well as digital inclusion sectors. Ankur Capital seeks companies that will have structural impact by addressing bottlenecks and market failures in their target sectors and which can improve socio-economic outcomes for underserved populations. For example, Niramai in Ankur's first fund addresses a lack of skilled radiologists by providing AI powered imaging solutions, which can improve diagnostics and ultimately result in better healthcare outcomes.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Suppliers

India

Poor (rural, typically small-scale farmers with 2 to 10 hectares).
Customers

India

Low-income (urban and peri-urban population, typically spending 60 to 90 per cent of their income on essential consumption, with little or no savings, but are increasingly digitally connected).

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

The venture capital model implies the potential for large scale; however, this is likely to only come from a subset of companies. For example, in Ankur's first fund it invested in a business which reaches over two million farmers.
  • Suppliers: Generally deep impact as improved earnings are likely to represent a significant portion of household income for lower-income households.
  • Customers: the depth of impact will vary significantly depending on the nature of the product supplied.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Capital not offered at all by the commercial market. Our commitment will give a strong market signal which will aid the chances of the fund reaching its target size by final close.
  • Value additionality: We will help to reduce execution risks and any negative impact risks through support to the manager strengthening its environmental, social and business integrity systems

Risk

Execution Risk
  • The impact case rests on the ability of these early stage companies to successfully scale.
Alignment Risk
  • The impact case relies on sticking to the fund's strategy of investing in companies that target underserved populations with high impact goods and services.

Understanding our impact information (PDF)

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.
  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We worked closely with the fund manager to develop and implement an ESMS.

Understanding our approach to environmental and social risk (PDF)

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk

  • Key facts
    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    December 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D3556
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    South Asia
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Business and consumer services, Construction and real estate, Financial services, Food and agriculture, Health, Infrastructure, Technology and telecoms

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    December 2019
    Amount :
    $15m
    Currency of investment :
    INR
    Fund manager:
    Ankur Capital
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    India
    2X Gender Finance

    Indicates whether the investment is ‘2X qualified’ using the 2X Challenge criteria. You can find out more here. It only applies to investments made from 2018 onwards, when the 2X Challenge was first launched.

    :
    Fully qualified
    Energy type

    ‘Renewable’ includes energy sources with very low lifecycle emissions such as solar, wind and tidal or those meeting a certain criteria such as hydro power, biomass or geothermal. ‘Fossil fuel’ includes coal, oil and gas. Investments labelled as ‘Mixed’ support a combination of renewable and fossil fuel assets.

    :
    Renewable

    Download as PDF

    Click here to read our data guidance

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit https://www.ankurcapital.com/

Investment name Country Region Sector Energy Type Start date Status
Agrizy – Bizcovery Private Ltd India South Asia Food and agriculture March 2022 Active
Anantm Technologies Pvt Ltd (Numen) India South Asia Health February 2021 Active
Chifu Agritech Pvt. Ltd (Vegrow) India South Asia Technology and telecoms June 2020 Active
Climber Knowledge (My Captain) India South Asia Technology and telecoms January 2022 Active
D-Nome Private Limited India South Asia Health September 2022 Active
Farmstock Technologies Pvt Ltd (Krishify) India South Asia Technology and telecoms November 2020 Active
Hard Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd (Project Hero) India South Asia Construction and real estate March 2022 Active
IBISA S.A.R.L. Central Asia Rest of the World Financial services June 2022 Active
Infifresh Foods Pvt Ltd India South Asia Technology and telecoms August 2020 Active
Josh Talks India South Asia Business and consumer services March 2022 Active
Myoworks India South Asia Food and agriculture June 2022 Active
Off Grid Energy Labs Inc. India South Asia Infrastructure Renewable November 2021 Active
Piatrika Biosystems India South Asia Technology and telecoms June 2022 Active
Rupify Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd India South Asia Technology and telecoms March 2021 Active
SportVot India South Asia Business and consumer services June 2022 Active
String Bio Pvt. Ltd India South Asia Health May 2021 Active
TrueGrit Technologies (Wasabi) India South Asia Technology and telecoms July 2021 Active

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