Creation, Gawa in $24m round for India's Fusion

Existing investors including Netherlands-based Oikocredit and the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) also contributed to the round, while Incofin, a Belgium-based microfinance investor, made a partial exit along with some other early backers.

The primary investments came to INR1 billion, Fusion CEO Devesh Sachdev told The Economic Times, while the exits by Incofin and others amounted to INR620 million.

Fusion had a gross loan portfolio of INR6.5 billion as of March 2016; it hopes to reach INR11 billion by the same time next year. The comany plans to use the new capital for investments in manpower and technology that will reduce operational costs.

Founded in 2010, the company is now present in 11 states, with 184 branches serving an active borrower base of 500,000. It aims to provide micro-loans and insurance products to rural women in India who lack access to mainstream financial institutions.

India's MFIs and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) continue to attract interest from investors, who see them as able to fill the gap between the financial products offered by traditional banks and the needs of the country's large unbanked population. Deals this year include a INR1.4 billion investment in Grameen Koota by the International Finance Corporation and two rounds of funding for Janalakshmi led by CDC Group and TPG Capital.

Creation also led a $25 million Series B round in May for small and medium-sized enterprise-focused NBFC Capital Float. The firm provides growth capital to financial services companies worldwide; its portfolio in India also includes MFIs Sonata Finance and Equitas Holdings.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Expansion
• India
• NBFCs
• Growth capital