IMC and Tsao family office commit $60m to making an impact

Heritas Capital has secured $60 million from IMC Group and Tsao Family office, for Fund III, a pan-Asia impact fund which it hopes to raise $150 million for, Chik Wai Chiew, CEO and Executive Director at Heritas Capital told SVCA.

Heritas Capital started out as the investment arm of IMC, a shipping group founded in the early 1900s by the Tsao family in Shanghai. Wai Chiew shared that the two anchors: IMC and the Tsao family office are separate entities that make decisions independently of each other.
"IMC Group's mission is to serve humanity well-being while creating economic wealth. We are pleased to back Heritas' launch of its Growth Fund III as an Impact Fund to facilitate the shift of consciousness in business to be in alignment with the development of humanity in the new era of wellbeing," said Mr Frederick Chavalit Tsao, Chairman of IMC Group.

"Tsao Family Office, representing one of Asia's most enduring business families, with over a century of history, is pleased to support Heritas Growth Fund III, an impact fund investing in businesses contributing to the benefit of society," said Bryan Goh, CEO of Tsao Family Office.

The latest fund however represents the first fund to seek third party investors. Heritas manages two other growth funds with a combined $150m, and a separate Heritas Venture Fund (2019).

The Fund seeks to back 10-15 emerging Asian champions with innovative and impactful solutions aligned with selected UN SDG Goals from high impact sectors within Healthcare, Education and Technology. Ticket sizes for each Fund III investment may range from $5m to $20m, targeting high growth businesses seeking Series B financing and beyond to advance their solutions at-scale.

Examples of Heritas-backed category leaders include: Q&M Dental (dental chain, Singapore), Timberland Medical Centre (private hospital, Malaysia), Alodoktor (telehealth, Indonesia), MFine (telehealth, India), and BHL Education (K-12 education, Vietnam), according to Heritas.
The latest investment by Heritas Capital was its follow-on participation in the $125m Series C round of Hummingbird Bioscience announced in May 2021 through Fund II, having been an early backer since Series A and B rounds via its Heritas Venture Fund (HVF) since 2019.

Fund III is set up as the first sub-fund under Heritas-managed Variable Capital Company (VCC), a new corporate structure tailored for investment funds using Singapore as a base for fund management and domiciliation.