Aavishkaar Group, a global pioneer in impact investing with $1.2 billion assets under management, plans to launch its $250 million India Fund in three months, a top executive told BusinessLine .

Aavishkaar’s first five India funds were closed at $9 million, $18 million, $30 million, $94 million and $100 million, respectively. Since its inception in 2001, the Group has invested in 49 Indian start-ups.

“I started this journey with ₹5,000 ($100) in 2001 and by 2010 the Aavishkaar Group’s total assets under management was $27 million and in the next 10 years it rose to $1.1 billion and now I aim to grow this to $5 billion by 2025 and to $12 billion by 2030.

“We are an entrepreneurial group that is trying to use the power of capital and entrepreneurship to bridge the opportunity gap for the 3 billion people at the bottom of the pyramid. The world has 7 billion people including 4 billion who are from the rich and upper-middle income group and the remaining 3 billion in India, Africa and Latin America who are from the lower income group, who we are serving,” Vineet Rai, founder and Chairman, Aavishkaar Group, told BusinessLine .

Also read: ‘Impact investing is going to be the mainstream’

He said, in the last 12 months, Aavishkaar has invested around $25 million in five Indian start-ups including Ergos, a grain bank based in Samasthipur, Bihar; Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, headquartered in Varanasi; Connect India, an e-commerce logistics firm based in Delhi; Little Laureates, an edtech start-up headquartered in Kolkata and GoBOLT, a logistics solutions provided based in Gurugram.

“Our average investment in start-ups is around $11 million in our last fund. With the new $250 million India Fund, we intend to increase average investments per start-up to $15-25 million” added Rai.

The Aavishkaar Group is a multi-sector focused financial service for the people from lower income groups and comprises a group of four companies of which Aavishkaar Capital is its impact investing arm, Arohan Financial Services its digital Microfinance arm for people in the lowest income States in India, Ashv is its tech-led NBFC that provides collateral free loans to micro and small enterprises and Intellecap Advisory Services, its business solutions arm that helps build and scale profitable and sustainable enterprises dedicated to social and environmental change.

The Group has directly impacted 110 million people with essential products and services, provided jobs to 4 lakh people, 55 per cent of whom are women. Their secondary impact has extended to over 2.3 million MFI clients (98 per cent are women), with support to over 3,800 MSMEs, reduction of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, empowerment of 28 million people with essential services, and investments in 70 enterprises globally.

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