UK-based development finance institution British International Investment (BII) has committed $75 million to the second green basket bond arranged by Symbiotics Investments, an emerging markets access platform and financial lender.
The funds will increase financing to small-scale green projects across Africa, and South and Southeast Asia through MSME lenders, with 50% of the financing earmarked for India.
In India, the MSME financing gap is estimated at $530 billion. To address this gap, the new green basket bond will provide much-needed capital to green businesses and projects to help the country achieve its sustainability goals.
As with the first green basket bond, funding will be provided to projects across renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, green buildings, agriculture and forestry, the firms said in a statement.
The first such bond was supported by 11 MSME lenders in India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Tunisia, Botswana, Kenya, Bangladesh and Nepal.
BII had told DealStreetAsia earlier that of the earmarked up to 500 million pounds (over $600 million) for climate-related investments in Southeast Asia through 2026, around half will be allocated for debt investments. The remaining capital will be earmarked for direct equity and select fund investments.
BII, which acts both as a fund LP and as a direct investor in startups, counts pi Ventures, Stellaris Venture Partners, 3one4 Capital, Chiratae Ventures, Arkam, Pravega, Omnivore and Blume Ventures, among its portfolio VCs. And, it has backed early-stage startups such as Bizongo (B2B platform), Loadshare (logistics player), Betterplace (blue-collar platform), Mintoak (payment solution for MSME retailers), WeRize (fintech for low-middle income consumers), Wysa (mental health app), Vayana (supply chain platform for MSMEs), and Cropin (agritech), among others.
