Tuesday 12 November 2019

Svasti Microfinance raises USD 10 Million from Adar Poonawalla, Nordic Microfinance Initiative and Rajiv Dadlani Group



November, 2019:Svasti Microfinance Private Limited (Svasti) has raised a total of USD 10 Millioncapital from Mr. Adar Poonawalla, Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Rajiv Dadlani Group.
In 2015, Svasti raised funds from billionaire Mr. Adar Poonawalla, who has subsequently invested in follow-on rounds in 2017,2018 and in the current round as well. In 2018, Svasti raised funds from Nordic Microfinance Initiative, who has also now invested again in the current round.In addition, in the current round,Svasti has raised funds from Family offices of Nalwalas (Dubai), Kayenne Ventures (Singapore) the investment vehicle of siblings Kajal&NavinFabiani, Patnis (Mumbai) and other HNIs led by the Rajiv Dadlani Group. Till date, Svasti has raised totalcapital funds of USD 17 Million.
Apart from expanding its branch network, Svasti will use the capital raised to expand and increase its MSME loan portfolio and provide other financial services, such as consumer finance and insurance, in partnership with other leading institutions. Early investors in Svasti include the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Bamboo Financial Inclusion Fund, venture capitalist Mr. SajidFazalbhoy and investment banker and angel investor Mr. Rajiv Dadlani. A portion of the funds raised in the current round are being used to provide full exits to the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Bamboo Financial Inclusion Fund.
Svasti was co-founded by Arunkumar Padmanabhan and Narayanan Subramaniam in 2010 with the objective of bringing their extensive experience in banking, finance and technology development into the consumer finance sector to expand access to finance to all sections of society and bring about positive change in society.
Svasti today services around 185,000 customers across 52 branches spread over 4 states, aggregating a loan portfolio of around Rs. 380 Crores. Over the years, Svasti’s portfolio quality has been among the best in the industry.  Svasti aims to reach total loan portfolio of Rs. 550 Crores by FY 2020 and Rs. 1100 Crores by FY 2021.
Commenting on the transaction, Svasti’s Co-Founder Narayanan says: “We are very pleased to have closed this fund raise within a year of our previous fund raise. This gives us adequate capital funds to meet our growth plans until March 2021.”
Svasti’s Co-Founder Arunkumar added: “We have built a great organization with over 700 employees who are all very excited to receive such strong support from our investors. Our team is energized to pursue our vision to become a diversified financial services provider to the millions of low and middle income households across India. We have superior proprietary technology and analytics capabilities, which we will further develop and leverage to build a top-quality consumer finance business that will be profitable and also have high social impact.”
Arthur Sletteberg, Managing Director of NMI, commenting on the transaction says: “We are very happy with the progress Svasti has made since our initial investment last year and are glad to support the Company in continuing its momentum toscale its business and build a high-quality portfolio in the underserved markets.”
About Svasti:Svasti is an RBI licensed NBFC-MFI with headquarters in Mumbai. Svasti’s vision is to fulfill the right to finance of women with a host of financial services and knowledge, that will help transform their lives. You can read more about Svasti at https://www.svasti.in
About Michael & Susan Dell Foundation: Founded in 1999, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is dedicated to transforming the lives of children living in urban poverty through improving their education, health and family economic stability. Read more about The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation at www.msdf.org
About Bamboo Financial Inclusion Fund: Bamboo Financial Inclusion Fund is a commercial private equity fund making investments that matter. It finds game-changing businesses then applies a mix of geographical and sector expertise to deliver financial and social returns. Read more about Bamboo Capital Partners at http://www.bamboocp.com/
About Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI):NMI invests in microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Asia and Africa, strictly focusing on double bottom line investments, where both financial and social goals are met. NMI is a public-private partnership, owned by the Norwegian and Danish governmental funds for developing countries (Norfund and IFU) and large private sector institutions. Through 11 years of operation, NMI has managed funds of over 200 million USD and has recently launched a new major fund. Presently, NMI holds 27 investments. NMI’s headquarter is in Oslo, Norway, with offices in New Delhi (India), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Nairobi (Kenya). Read more about NMI at https://www.nmimicro.no
About Mr. Adar Poonawalla:Mr. Adar Poonawalla is the chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director of Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced. In 2016, he was listed by GQ magazine as one of the 50 most influential young Indians and was awarded Philanthropist of the year. In 2016, he launched www.adarpcleancity.com, a citywide initiative where he committed & spent 20 million dollars to clean up the city of Pune using hundreds of trucks, Glutton machines and bins across the city under his personal management and dedicated team. In 2018, received the CNBC Asia’s award for Corporate Social Responsibility of the year. Read more about Mr. Adar Poonawalla at http://www.adarpoonawalla.com/

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