Accel, Elevar in $24m round for Indian NBFC
Indian non-banking financial services company (NBFC) Samunnati has raised an INR1.5 billion ($23.5 million) funding round from investors including Accel Partners and Elevar Equity.
Zurich-based impact investor ResponsAbility led the round, according to media reports linked from Samunnati’s Twitter account. The firm made the commitment from its dedicated agriculture fund, which provides growth capital to companies across the food sector value chain, with investments of $5-25 million.
Samunnati, founded in 2014, provides working capital loans to individuals and enterprises working in the agriculture production and supply chain, including farmers, traders, wholesalers, food processors, and exporters. AVCJ Research's records show the company received a $4.5 million funding round last year from Accel and Elevar, in addition to Edelweiss Financial Services.
The NBFC has partnerships with 12 other financial institutions, which provide it with capital to lend to its customers, and claims to have disbursed loans worth over INR5 billion to date. It will use the new capital to expand its loan portfolio.
A number of NBFCs and microfinance institutions (MFIs) addressing India’s food and agriculture industry have received funding from private equity investors. Impact investors including the International Finance Corporation and Asian Development Bank have been the most active, but firms such as KKR and True North have also committed capital in the sector through Magma Fincorp.
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