ImpactAlpha, July 11 – LeapFrog Investments pledged to invest $500 million in startups developing low-carbon solutions for Asia and Africa’s emerging consumer classes. The firm said it will target investments in the built environment, mobility, food and energy sectors, where many green solutions (like home solar products) are already cheaper than carbon-intensive alternatives (like kerosene).
“In the next decade we want to act as a catalyst and enabler for billions of low-income consumers finding clean pathways into prosperity,” said LeapFrog’s Andy Kuper at Monday’s Climate Finance Mobilization Forum in London, which was convened by UK energy security secretary Grant Shapps and US climate envoy John Kerry and coincided with president Joe Biden’s meeting with King Charles.
LeapFrog, which has raised more than $2 billion for its financial inclusion and healthcare strategies, announced plans for a climate strategy last November. The firm’s climate lead Nakul Zaveri called the strategy a “natural extension” of LeapFrog’s economic inclusion work in emerging markets.
“Finance, health and climate are the trinity of new risks and opportunities that will impact lower-income people,” Zaveri told ImpactAlpha in an interview last year.
In January, LeapFrog led off-grid solar product maker Sun King’s $70 million equity round. Portfolio company CarDekho, a vehicle marketplace in South Asia, is seeing a boom in interest for electric two- and three-wheel vehicles. Payments company Interswitch is processing transactions for solar microgrids, rooftop solar and electric vehicles.
Said Zaveri, “You cannot have a just transition, you cannot decarbonize without 4.5 billion people from emerging markets.”
