School education lender Varthana Finance Monday said it has raised $10 million (Rs 83 crore) in a funding round from global impact investor BlueOrchard Finance Ltd.
The firm aims to use the funding to expand its presence across geographies, according to its statement.
The funding comes nearly a month after VCCircle had reported the startup’s plans of raising Rs 300-350 crore ($36-42 million) in a mix of primary and secondary components.
"With this funding, Varthana is poised to expand its reach and support to a larger network of affordable private schools,” said Steve Hardgrave, chief executive officer, Varthana.
Set up in 2013, Varthana lends money to low-cost private schools to help them build classrooms, buy equipment, learning materials and invest in teacher training.
The company provides unsecured loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for a maximum of three years and larger amounts for secured loans with up to a five-year tenor.
The firm has a presence in 16 states and union territories, through 40 branches. Varthana aims to make education accessible to over 10 million students by 2025.
The company has also forayed into another vertical which is providing loans to high school and college students for upskilling courses. The loan ticket size starts as low as Rs 1 lakh. It already has a loan book of Rs 150 crore on that front.
Prior to the current funding round, the company has secured funding from several private equity and venture capital firms. It raised seed funding in 2013 from Accion, Elevar Equity and LGT Venture, followed by a Series A round the next year.
The company raised Rs 93 crore in Series B funding in 2016 from Kaizen Private Equity and Zephyr Peacock, among others.
In 2018, private equity firm ChrysCapital led Varthana’s Series C round of Rs 350 crore.
