WestBridge leads $40m round for India's Aptus

Caspian Impact Investment Advisors, an Indian impact investor focused on financial inclusion, also participated in the round. Both have previously invested in the company; WestBridge committed INR980 million in 2014, while Caspian invested INR300 million in 2012.

Aptus provides housing finance for middle-income, self-employed consumers in semi-urban and rural markets. Since its founding in 2010 the company has established about 80 branches; it currently has about INR9 billion in loan assets, with plans to grow that value to INR15 billion by next year and INR50 billion over the next four years.

The new capital will be used to expand Aptus' branch network to new cities, focusing on tier-two and tier-three markets. Aptus founder M. Anandam told a press conference that in the first five months of the 2016 financial year the company's loan book has outperformed the prior year's growth by more than 80%.

Aptus considers its target customers of middle-income, self-employed individuals who are underserved because of their perceived higher credit risk. It claims to conduct rigorous credit assessments using a proprietary model before extending loans, which tend to be between INR50-150 million. Anandam said the company's non-performing asset ratio is among the lowest in the country, and its loan recovery rate stands at 99.5%.

Along with private equity commitments, WestBridge also invests in publicly traded Indian companies from its WestBridge Crossover Fund, a PIPE-focused evergreen vehicle launched in 2011. Recent investments include a INR77 million commitment to tableware retailer La Opala and a $15.6 million Series A round for healthcare-focused IT outsourcing start-up Innovaccer.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Consumer
• Expansion
• India
• WestBridge Capital Partners
• Financial Services