Our investment
Description of the investment.
Description of the investment.
We invested in Apis Growth Fund III to continue backing an experienced fund manager with a strong track record of successfully investing in tech- enabled financial services businesses across Africa and South Asia. The investment will help improve economic opportunities for consumers and businesses.
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.
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 |
|---|
Improved economic opportunities for consumers and businesses via improved ability to manage liquidity, investment, and risk (SDG 8.10). |
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How?
| How? |
|---|
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Increase access to and/or the quality of digital financial services for businesses via investments into B2B and B2C financial technology firms that predominantly provide payment, credit and insurance services. |
Who?
| Stakeholder | Geography | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| Business owners |
Pan-Africa (34 per cent), South Asia (33 per cent) and Southeast Asia (33 per cent) |
Micro, small, medium and large-sized firms across a range of sectors |
| Employees | ||
| Customers |
Mass market profile of consumers, with potential for low-income clients |
How much?
| Scale | Depth/Duration |
|---|---|
|
Apis Fund I and II investee companies reached over 1.1 million MSMEs and have enabled over $25 billion in volumes processed. We expect Fund III to deliver a similar scale of impact. |
Depth: Where first-time access to financial services is enabled, impact is expected to be deep and transformational. |
Contribution/additionality
| Contribution/additionality |
|---|
|
Financial additionality: Our capital will help Apis Growth Fund III reach optimum fund size. |
Risk
Unexpected Impact RiskRisk relates to lack of strong data governance and privacy mechanisms, cybersecurity risks, and risks of over- indebtedness. Mitigation linked to Apis’ proven ability to support best practices. Alignment RiskRisk relates to the fund under-delivering against our impact priorities. The fund's strategy, as well as the impact performance of Fund I and Fund II give comfort in the likely characteristics of the eventual portfolio. Evidence RiskRisk relates to potential inability to evidence impact on stakeholders. Mitigation linked to ex-post impact monitoring requirements, including an impact evaluation approach beyond routine monitoring. |
Impact score
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Impact score (at point of investment)
The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. You can find out more here. The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party. |
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5 |
Environmental and social information
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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.
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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
The fund has an ESMS, in place and the proposed pipeline is deemed to have limited or minimal adverse E&S risks and/or impacts. The fund will support investees to develop their own ESAP and ESMS. APIS will also cascade the following requirements down to investees: (i) the EDFI harmonized exclusion list, (ii) BII’s Fossil Fuel Policy (iii) local environmental, health & safety and labour laws and regulations, and (iv) IFC PS2 & ILO core conventions.
Environmental and social risk
Medium-Low
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
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Key facts
- First published
:
When the investment was first published on the website database.
- March 2024
- Last updated
:
When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.
- June 2024
- Project number
:
An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.
- D6024
- 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.
- Africa, Asia
- Investment type :
- Fund
- Start date :
- November 2023
- Amount :
- $40m
- Currency of investment :
- USD
- Fund Manager:
- Apis Partners
- Domicile
:
The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.
- Luxembourg
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.
- First published
Investments made by this fund into companies:
For further information about these companies, visit http://apis.pe/
| Investment name | Country | Region | Sector | Start date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MNT Investments | Egypt | North Africa | Financial services | June 2024 | Active |
