Temasek's ABC World Asia invested S$98m across five companies in 2020

TEMASEK-BACKED ABC World Asia, a Singapore-based private equity (PE) fund focused on impact investing in Asia, on Thursday said it deployed S$98 million to five companies in 2020, after evaluating over 200 opportunities.

The selected companies are Singapore-based solar firm Sunseap Group, Australia plant-based meat company v2food, Vietnam oral healthcare firm Kim Dental, China rural microfinance firm CD Finance, and India-based agri-tech platform CropIn.

ABC World led Kim Dental's US$24 million Series B funding round in February this year. It also led CropIn's US$20 million in a Series C funding round in January, and participated in v2food's US$55 million Series B fundraising in October 2020. Sunseap obtained S$50 million in funding from Temasek Holdings and ABC World in January 2020.

The Asia-focused PE fund noted in its inaugural impact report released on Thursday that these companies addressed challenges in climate, financial inclusion, healthcare and sustainable agriculture. The report rounds up the fund's activities in the past 12 months.

ABC World founder and chief executive David Heng said the fund's investments were made in the midst of the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The unprecedented and global nature of this crisis has resulted in both challenges and opportunities for our portfolio companies. The current crisis only reinforces our conviction that we urgently need to change our way of measuring value and success," he added.

Temasek Trust, the philanthropic arm of investment company Temasek Holdings, established ABC World in May 2019, guided by Temasek's mission to contribute to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

The inaugural fund raised S$405 million in capital from investors, including Temasek Trust, Temasek, Pavilion Capital, Mapletree Investments, Seatown Holdings, Sembcorp Industries, and Singapore Power.