MSPEA leads $23m Series D for India’s Ummeed

LGT Lightstone Aspada also participated. It follows a $10 million Series C in 2018 from LGT and Lok Capital. Lok also contributed to earlier rounds in 2016 and 2017 alongside local trading firm Duane Park. Total funding to date amounts to about $42 million. 

MSPEA is investing via its fifth pan-regional fund, which has raised at least $366.4 million to date on a target of $2 billion. The firm was active in India’s affordable housing space as recently as last month when it provided INR1.9 billion to Centrum Housing Finance.  

“Affordable housing finance presents a large untapped opportunity, which Ummeed intends to address through its scalable operating model built with the right blend of technology, people and processes,” Nirav Mehta, a managing director at MSPEA, said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, Ummeed caters to India’s informal economy and low-income segment, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Services include loans ranging from INR300,000 to INR5 million for home construction and renovation, as well as loans against property. 

Like Centrum, the business has gradually moved into business loans with a focus on the micro to the small and medium-sized enterprise segment. Ummeed plans to use its latest funding to build out its technology, expand into new geographies, and double its assets under management to INR10 billion over the next 12-18 months.

MSPEA has made several investments in India’s micro-lending space, including Five Star Business Finance and Jana Small Finance Bank. Last year, the investor joined a INR3 billion round for vehicle-focused Kogta Financial alongside Malaysia-based GP Creador. MSPEA, which is based in Hong Kong, closed its fourth pan-regional PE fund in 2014 at $1.7 billion. 

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Real estate
• Expansion
• India
• Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia
• LGT Lightstone Aspada
• Financial Services
• NBFCs