Impact investor Aavishkaar Capital, which manages assets of around half a billion dollars, has roped in a Japanese investor for its global supply chain-focused fund that provides credit to small and medium enterprises.
Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA), Japan’s governmental agency for official development assistance, has committed an investment of $40 million (around Rs 350 crore) for the impact investor’s Global Supply Chain Support Fund, it said in a statement.
The fund, which has a targeted corpus of $220 million (around Rs 1,925 crore), was launched in 2022. It was set up in partnership with KfW, a German state-owned development bank. The fund invests in businesses that operate across global supply chains and in sectors having significant climate and social impact.
Through the credit fund, Aavishkaar Capital will provide credit to private corporations operating in Africa, India and other parts of emerging Asia, the company said in the statement. These businesses will be involved in a variety of international business supply chains, including those in agriculture, food processing and manufacturing.
So far, the fund has raised about 50% of its target capital from its LPs.
“This collaboration builds upon a decade of our relationship and reflects the long-standing tradition of Indo‑Japan economic cooperation. Together, we are committed to advancing shared values of sustainable growth and transformative opportunities for SMEs across the African & Asian continent and look forward to a long and an impactful alliance,” said Vineet Rai, Founder, Aavishkaar Group and Managing Partner, Aavishkaar Capital.
Besides the credit fund, the investor was planning to raise its seventh India fund in the second half of 2025, VCCircle reported previously. It was eyeing a bigger corpus under the new fund of about $200-$250 million, and may tap a few Middle Eastern limited partners for the first time, Rai had told VCCircle.
Currently, the impact investing arm of the Mumbai-based Aavishkaar Group is deploying capital from its $150-million sixth fund, which hit the final close in late 2023.
Aaavishkaar focuses on three core themes—financial inclusion, sustainable agriculture, and essential services—and invests in agritech and financial services businesses as well as climate-focused companies and green hydrogen ventures. It typically invests in growth-stage companies, participating in Series A and upwards funding rounds, and deploys between $5 million and $25 million in each company.