Apis passes $600m for third growth fund

Apis Partners has raised approximately $650 million for its third growth fund, according to a source familiar with the fundraise.

Apis Growth III launched last year, according to the New Private Markets database, and continues the firm’s strategy of investing in growth businesses that contribute towards greater financial inclusion. The first growth fund closed at $287 million in 2017. Fund II raised $563 million, surpassing its $400 million target, and closed in 2019.

LPs in the latest fund include British International Investment ($40 million), International Finance Corporation ($75 million) and Blue Earth Capital (undisclosed).

Apis is understood to be targeting $1 billion in total. The fund has around 12 months to run on its fundraising period, the source said. Apis declined to comment.

Unlike the firm’s previous two growth funds, which focused on Africa and Asia, the latest offering will deploy 50 percent of its capital in Europe, the source said. Apis hired the founders of TechFin Investments, Adam Battersby and Theofilos Kotridis, as partners to invest in developed markets in 2022. In an email to New Private Markets at the time, Apis co-founder Udayan Goyal described fintech as “increasingly becoming a sector without boundaries”.

Should the fund reach its target, it will become one of the largest financial inclusion impact funds on record. Leapfrog Investments is also seeking $1 billion for its flagship offering, which will invest in financial inclusion and healthcare businesses.