Svasti Microfinance Private Limited (Svasti) has raised a total of USD 10 Million capital from Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI), Mr. Adar Poonawalla, and Rajiv Dadlani Group.

In 2015, Svasti raised funds from leading businessman and philanthropist 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, that has also 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 & Navin Fabiani, Patnis (Mumbai) and other HNIs led by the Rajiv Dadlani Group. Till date, Svasti has raised total capital funds of Rs. 115 Crores.

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. Sajid Fazalbhoy, 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. 1,100 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-income 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 to scale its business and build a high-quality portfolio in the underserved markets.”

-----