LeapFrog Investments closed its second climate deal, investing $50 million of a $95 million funding round for ReNew Energy Global’s commercial and industrial solar business.
ReNew Green Energy Solutions in Gurgaon develops on-site renewable energy projects for large companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google. Such companies consume about half of India’s electricity, the majority of which is still produced from coal-fired power plants.
“That is where you start greening the energy value chain,” LeapFrog’s Nakul Zaveri told ImpactAlpha.
ReNew’s portfolio includes two gigawatts of energy capacity commissioned by clients, making it one of the larger renewable commercial and industrial, or C&I, solar developers in India.
The 15-year-old company is publicly listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. New investors in its C&I group include Emerging Market Climate Action Fund and Carlyle AlpInvest. The company also has backing from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and British International Investment.
Filtered sunlight
LeapFrog’s climate strategy focuses on four themes: clean energy, mobility, climate-smart food and agriculture, and the built environment. In India, investing at scale in renewable energy adoption for urban households and small businesses is challenging because of population density and limited roof space, Zaveri says. Supporting larger energy users’ shift to renewable energy, and the impact that has on the broader energy value chain, “plays a critical role in consumers becoming green,” he argued.
LeapFrog has been slow to deploy capital from its planned $500 million climate strategy, launched in 2023. Its first investment was in mid-2024 in Battery Smart, also in India. The company provides battery swapping for two- and three-wheel electric vehicles.
Zaveri declined to say how much the LeapFrog’s climate fund has raised. He predicts that the intensifying climate crisis and geopolitical environment – now especially with the war with Iran – will spur clean energy development in emerging markets.
“Energy independence is now a first and foremost [concern], and the only way to get there is renewable energy,” he said.
Housing and healthcare
Through its Emerging Consumer Fund, LeapFrog reupped in low-cost mortgage lending company Shubham Housing Development Finance. The housing lender has loaned 75 billion rupees to enable low- and middle-income families in India to buy a home. Many are first-time borrowers. The $96 million deal, led by Creador, provided an exit to several of Shubham’s early investors.
Last month, LeapFrog participated in a growth equity round for Global Care Medical Center, a 10-year-old healthcare provider in the Philippines. The company runs five hospital locations that provide care to patients outside of Manila. LeapFrog invested alongside Philippines-based private equity firm Navegar.
