The rise of impact investing in Southeast Asia

Almost a year ago, in November, I found myself at an entrepreneurship conference in Jakarta. The room was abuzz with familiar questions:

How do we support and mentor budding entrepreneurs? How do we source and manage funding? How do we build scalable businesses that last?

In some ways, it reminded me of Tech in Asia events.

Positive impact and monetary goals

I was at the Sankalp Forum – a conference on impact investing. The event series originated in India, and its second installment in Jakarta is coming up.

Simply put, impact investors are people who want to finance companies that pursue positive societal outcomes alongside monetary goals. It means that aside from growing into a profitable business, the company has to account for and report how it’s contributing to improving the livelihoods of the people it works with.

There was one big difference to Tech in Asia conferences. The business models discussed at Sankalp didn’t necessarily have tech at their core.

Impact investors look at sectors like agriculture, fisheries, and micro businesses; endeavors that affect the livelihoods of low-income people in emerging markets.

But more often than not, I found that tech did play a role in the discussions, especially when it came to achieving efficiency and scale.

Impact funds are taking root in the region

Another similarity lies in how impact funds are structured. They’re comparable to the tech VC funds we’re familiar with. They can write big checks and look for big opportunities. We’re not talking about petty cash.

As the interest in impact investing grows globally, impact funds dedicated to Southeast Asia have sprung up.

Mixed boards

Key Purpose Indicator

Exits and returns