david heng
"It gives me great pleasure to share the progress and learnings from the first year of our impact investing journey at ABC World Asia. We raised our inaugural S$405M fund in 2019 and deployed about S$98M in 2020, adding five companies to our portfolio. As we continue to evolve, we hope to encourage more active dialogue and further adoption of impact investing in Asia by sharing our insights through our annual Impact Report.”
David Heng
CEO
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Key Highlights

S$405M
Capital Raised
S$98M
Invested in 2020

Our
Portfolio
Companies

In the first year of our journey, we have made significant progress in building a diverse portfolio of companies across Asia that help advance our mission - driving change in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We have added five companies to our portfolio over the past 12 months, investing across our five themes – Climate & Water Solutions, Better Healthcare & Education, Sustainable Food & Agriculture, Financial & Digital Inclusion and Smart & Liveable Cities. We take pride in the impact these companies are creating for the environment and our society.

17 SDGs
world map

*Click on the different companies to find out more

Impact Across
Our Portfolio

Financial Inclusion
financial inclusion
460,000
people and microenterprises gained access to credit and financial services
Inclusive Agriculture
inclusive agriculture
1.5M
smallholder farmers globally gained access to customised farming advice and information
Environmental Impact
Environmental Impact
1.1M
metric tons of CO2 emissions avoided
Health and Prevention
health and prevention
129,000
people received oral-health treatment along with prevention

Our Impact
Approach

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initial screen

Screen each opportunity by developing an impact thesis and evaluating the company’s intentionality and commitment to impact.

portfolio engagement

impact analysis

Assess potential impact performance based on multi-dimension weighted framework to ensure investments meet internal impact requirements.

Monitor portfolio companies using a set of impact metrics and indicators to report their progress throughout the investment period.

Initial Screen
Impact thesis
Our impact theses aim to articulate the company’s intended path to delivering impact by identifying strategic elements: inputs, outputs, outcomes, and SDGs.
Crafting an impact thesis for each target company helps us better understand how a particular product or service is making impact in the world.
Intentionality
Assessing an entrepreneur’s intentionality and commitment to impact is important for us to ensure a company is able to balance the dual purposes of social or environmental change with financial return.
Impact Analysis
FIVE dimensions of Impact
We use the Impact Management Project as a consistent method of assessing the impact performance of different investments, using the five dimensions of impact: WHAT, WHO, HOW MUCH, CONTRIBUTION and RISK.
Scoring system
We evaluate and score companies across each impact dimension.
Our scoring system defines a minimum threshold for impact and therefore ensures that all deals meet a required baseline for impact.
Portfolio Engagement
ACTIVE PARTNERSHIP
Post investment, we continue to take a strong interest in how our portfolio companies achieve impact and support them in their impact journey. We work closely with management teams throughout the life of the investments to achieve the growth, value and impact targets we envision for our portfolio companies.
For example, we actively engage Sunseap, our first investment and a partner in accelerating Asia’s decarbonisation and transition to clean energy. Together, we exchange ideas and develop innovative and commercially viable solutions that foster sustainability and fight climate change in new markets.

Case
Studies

Our case studies illustrate how our assessment framework is applied to gauge the impact potential of our investments. They help to contextualise the process of evaluation for each impact dimension. Please download our Impact Report 2020 for the complete individual case studies here.

cropIn
kim dental
two people using ipad

CropIn provides data-driven solutions that improve the productivity and livelihood of smallholder farmers, driving greater efficiency in agri supply-chains and improving sustainability of the food system.

dentist working on a patient

Kim Dental contributes to better healthcare by increasing access to oral healthcare services and prevention efforts in Vietnam, thereby reducing the risks of oral and non-commmunicable diseases in the population.

v2 food
cd finance
two people farming

v2food’s products accelerate consumers’ transition to a more plant-rich diet and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, water use and land use in our environment.

old man using phone

CD Finance supports financial inclusion by providing access to safe and affordable financial solutions to rural communities in China.

geography lines
“This inaugural report marks our first year as an impact investor focused on Asia. We hope to share our learnings and experience through this report and its future editions.
Together with our stakeholders, we are keen to grow our collective work through insights from the ground. Let us work towards a better and more resilient Asia together.”
The ABC World Asia Team
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The information contained in this report is provided by ABC World Asia for information purposes only. ABC World Asia makes no representation as to the completeness and accuracy of the information in this report, and assumes no responsibility for updating such information. ABC World Asia accepts no liability for any losses arising from any action taken or refrained from as a result of information in this report or any sources of information referred to in this report. The information in this report may not be reproduced either in part or in full without the written permission of ABC World Asia.