Idacapital targets close to USD 30m for impact fund

The firm has already received USD 8.5m in commitments and wants to add another USD 5m every six months, targeting a total of USD 28.5m, he said.

Launched in May 2022 and domiciled in Turkey, the Idacapital Acceleration VC Fund will be invested during two and a half years and will have a 4.5 years exit, he added. It will accept new investors on an ongoing basis, with its assets under management (AUM) to be revalued every six months, Baytok said. A fairly new model, rolling funds allows managers to collect commitments from investors on a quarterly or half-year basis.

The new fund's LP base is made up of around 54% of institutional investors, 28% of individuals, with the rest comprising corporates, Baytok said. These include pension funds, insurance funds, investment holdings, family offices and high-net-worth individuals, he added. The minimum investment ticket for individuals is USD 100,000 and USD 500,000 for institution investors. The fund charges management fees of 2.5% during the investment period and 1% during the exit period, he said, adding that the fees are based on invested capital.

The fund has so far USD 14.5m AUM, while its six-month initial rate of return (IRR) stood at 171% (18 May-December 2022), he said.

Investments
The new idacapital fund is expected to invest around USD 25m in at least 15 startups in the next two years, having so far been deployed across seven businesses, Baytok said. These included two first-time investments and five follow-ons in the firm's portfolio companies.

Companies in the new fund's portfolio are Worqcompany, a revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce companies, edu-tech Mentalup, health-tech startup Organo-ID, agrofintech startup Agrio, and logistic tech businesses Navlungo, Qdelivery and Diginak.

With 70% of its capital earmarked for follow-ons, the fund aims to provide a mature portfolio with an attractive risk and return profile, he said. It can invest between USD 200,000 to USD 2m into revenue generative and profitable startups and small businesses with triple bottom line (financial, social and environmental) targets, Baytok said.

The majority of the deals will be in Turkey-based start-ups, with some 10% planned for businesses in other countries, especially in the CEE region or MENA, but with a presence in Turkey.

Areas of preference include digital inclusion, fintech, mobility, edtech, cleantech and healthtech. It makes impact investing through technology, innovation and growth capital in and out of Turkey, targeting disruptive startups and "missing middle" SMEs, Baytok said. The impact investments aim to address the needs of 38 million low-to-middle income people and over 3m refugees in Turkey, Baytok said.

Idacapital expects three portfolio companies to have exit opportunities in the next 24 months, Baytok said, adding that other partial exits to attain 2x-plus distribution to paid-in capital (DPI) and remain in investments to maximise returns.

Established in 2013, Idacapital is part of Capria Network, which has 23 impact fund managers for 53 countries, as per its website. The firm was founded by Anil Gokcen Korpinar and Baytok. In addition to the founding partners, the team comprises four investment professionals.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Venture
• Technology
• CEE
• Turkey