
IFC commits $10m to India's Power2SME
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, has invested $10 million in Indian business-to-business e-commerce start-up Power2SME.
Power2SME helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) buy raw materials at bulk prices and get working capital without collateral. According to a release, the company will use the new capital to expand geographically and build its user base, in addition to adding more banks as partners to support its financing division.
Currently, the company is present in 14 Indian states, with 50,000 SMEs registered on the platform. It hopes to grow its user base to 500,000 over the next five years.
Since its founding in 2012 Power2SME has raised several rounds of funding from a number of VC backers. Kalaari Capital and Inventus Capital committed $2 million in the company’s Series A round in 2012, later returning for a $6 million Series B the following year, joined by Accel Partners. All three investors then participated in the $7 million Series C round in 2015.
IFC’s investment is aimed at stimulating India’s SME community. The country has 49 million SMEs – more than any other country except China – that employ 111 million people and account for 45% of India’s industrial output and 40% of its exports. However, Indian SMEs only contribute 10% of the country’s GDP, compared to 60% in China, due to a shortage of long-term funding.
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