Satin Creditcare raises Rs 41 cr

Satin Creditcare Network Ltd, a Delhi-based microfinance institution, has raised Rs 41 crore from three funds.

It will use the funds to grow in rural areas in North India, where it will impact close to 150,000 additional lives. Satin Creditcare has over 4.75 lakh active borrowers across 10 States.

Lok Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in enterprises catering to bottom of the pyramid, has completely sold its stake in Satin Creditcare. Lok Capital, one of the earliest investors in Satin, had invested Rs 10 crore, since 2008.

MicroVest II, ShoreCap II Ltd (managed by Equator Capital Partners LLC) and Danish Microfinance Partners K/S have invested in Satin’s recent round of fund-raising. MicroVest has purchased Lok Capital’s entire stake.

Venky Natarajan, Managing Partner, Lok Capital Advisory Services, did not want to disclose how much Lok Capital sold its stake for, but said the returns were “satisfactory”.

There was certainly more stability in the microfinance sector now, he said. The companies that had been resilient during the crisis the sector was going through had demonstrated ability to attract good quality investors.

Satin Creditcare’s asset under management had increased from Rs 40 crore when Lok Capital invested in it to about Rs 600 crore now. Lok had less than 15 per cent stake in the company.

Lok Capital’s exit was the first complete exit of this scale in the microfinance sector in the country and it underlined the sector’s buoyancy and growth potential. Satin Creditcare’s portfolio had grown to Rs 575 crore as on March 31, 2013, from Rs 319 crore a year ago. Satin had a lender base of 35 institutions, including 11 public sector banks, 11 private sector banks, three foreign banks and 10 domestic and foreign institutional lenders.

MicroVest, headquartered in Washington, DC, is a private, for-profit investment adviser. Since launching operations in 2003, MicroVest has provided financing to over 80 low-income finance institutions in over 45 countries. Equator Capital Partners, a US-based company, manages and sponsors impact investment funds. Danish Microfinance Partners invests in financial institutions with microfinance exposure.

Nexus Venture and Avalon Ventures invest in Indix

Nexus Venture Partners and Avalon Ventures, venture capital firms, have invested $ 4.5 million in Indix. The funding will be used to accelerate product development and scale marketing and sales in the US.

Indix, based in Chennai and Seattle, the US, works on big data, analytics, visualisations and applications that help product and services companies manage and get the most out of their product portfolio. Indix is building a cloud-based product for individuals in businesses around the world. Founded in late 2010 and started operating in late 2011, Indix had previously raised $ 1.4 million from seed investors, including Nexus Ventures. Indix has an engineering and product team based out of Chennai.

COMMENT NOW