Temasek’s $500 mn investment will provide growth capital to LeapFrog, says CEO Andrew Kuper

Temasek, mainstream private equity firm, backed by Singapore government on Tuesday said it is putting its weight behind impact investor LeapFrog by committing $500 million into their funds. Temasek is also picking stake and partnering with LeapFrog.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Andrew Kuper, Founder and CEO of LeapFrog Investments, said the investment by Temasek will provide growth capital for the company.

“We are very pleased to announce a $500 million commitment by Temasek to LeapFrog which will do two things. Firstly, it will cornerstone future funds that we plan to raise in our specialist areas of healthcare and financial inclusion. Secondly, it will provide growth capital for LeapFrog to expand our teams in emerging markets including India,” he said.

Kuper said they intend to invest capital in companies which are serving the society as well. “We intend to use the capital to invest it in companies that are serving hundreds of billions of people around the world who are not yet securely middle class, who are lower income or vulnerable, but who are determined to rise into that security and prosperity. In that context, India is one of the world’s most important countries,” he said.

He added that with Temasek’s investment, LeapFrog can grow portfolio of companies and take them to new level of scale.

“What is exciting here is that this is one of the signal institutional investors globally and especially in Asia that is committing capital, yes it is private equity, but above all it is to impact investing, it is to fulfilling the sustainable development goals which is a key focus of Temasek as an investor and as an intergenerational investor. For LeapFrog what it means is that we can grow our portfolio companies and begin to take those companies to a new level of scales,” he said.