The Aavishkaar social investing firm was founded by Vineet Rai in 2001 in India. It is India’s biggest firm, by fund size, for this type of investing, which looks for investments that will have a social impact along with a financial return. Since its founding, Vineet and his team have made 46 investments, all in India, through four funds and have about $155 million under management in the country. It has already done thirteen exits and six partial exits.
But Aavishkaar’s recently launched fifth fund, the Aavishkaar Frontier Fund (AFF), is its first fund to focus outside India. The AFF will invest in firms in South and Southeast Asia, including countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Of these countries, Indonesia is clearly the lead target market. Vineet hopes that AFF will invest about 35% of its $45 million in funds into Indonesia. The AFF states that it is the first venture firm from India to invest in Indonesian startups, with a special focus on impact investing.
“I am very excited about Indonesia because like India, Indonesia is also a country with high density, low income population where entrepreneurial activity exists. Indonesia today is what India was in 2007,” says Vineet, 43. “While Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka share the border with India, Indonesia’s size will give it a competitive advantage.” Just last month, the AFF made its first investment, into Indonesian seafood company Bali Seafood International, and its next investment in Indonesia is already in the pipeline and expected to close in the next six months. Vineet also expects the AFF to close two other investments in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the next two months.