DBS-Temasek debt financing platform EvolutionX Debt Capital makes maiden investment in India’s API

EVOLUTIONX Debt Capital, the growth-stage debt financing platform launched by DBS and Temasek, has made its maiden investment in India’s largest digital healthcare platform, API Holdings.

The investment marks the first of a sequence of planned capital raises, and will be followed by equity infusion, said Siddharth Shah, co-founder and chief executive of API Holdings, on Monday (Nov 7). 

The value of EvolutionX’s investment in API Holdings was not disclosed. 

Since its launch in late 2021, Singapore-headquartered EvolutionX has expanded to Mumbai and plans to establish a presence in China next year. Its goal is to support the growth of Asian technology startups by providing an alternative source of debt financing. 

According to EvolutionX, growth debt bridges and extends the cash runway for startups until the next financing round or exit event, while also helping founders and investors minimise dilution of shareholding.

It aims to build a pipeline of investment opportunities and provide amortising term debt facilities with ticket sizes of US$20 million to US$50 million over the next few years in a wide array of sectors in the Indian, Chinese, and South-east Asian markets.

These sectors include healthcare, education, logistics, industrial development and financial services.

In Singapore especially, these plans are welcome news amid a weakening fundraising environment for startups.

Rahul Shah, partner and co-head of EvolutionX’s Indian and South-east Asian investments, added: “As capital markets continue to be muted and access to private capital narrows for tech startups, founders and their shareholders are increasingly seeking less dilutive forms of capital to extend their cash runway and avoid raising equity capital at lower valuations.”

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EvolutionX’s investment in API Holdings was one of two updates from the debt financing platform. The other was its appointment of two key partners to drive its management strategy across Asia.

Rahul Shah was recently appointed to his current post at EvolutionX. He was previously head of corporate debt investments for South Asia at British International Investment. 

Meanwhile, Calvin Cheng was appointed partner as well as co-head to oversee EvolutionX’s investments across China. He was formerly a managing director and the head of technology and growth banking group at East West Bank (China).