UOB Venture Management to launch second Asia impact fund

UOB Venture Management, the private equity unit of UOB, is expanding its impact investing efforts with the launch of its second Asia impact fund in the second half of this year.

The second series of the Asia Impact Investment Fund (AIIF II) will make equity investments of about US$1 million to US$15 million per investee company.

It will continue the strategy of the AIIF's first series to invest in the region's education, healthcare and agriculture sectors. The fund will also seek investments in the areas of financial inclusion, affordable housing, clean energy, water and sanitation.

The fund will be made available to global institutional and accredited investors, and Credit Suisse, in partnership with UOB, will market the fund to its clients and provide impact advisory. No fundraising target was disclosed; the first impact fund had a size of US$55 million.

AIIF I, launched in 2015, has invested in nine firms across China, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. Portfolio companies include Indonesian healthcare startup Halodoc, in which UOBVM led a US$65 million Series B funding round announced in March.