AYE Finance Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 44 crore ($6.9 million) in debt financing from Triodos Investment Management, the global impact investment manager and asset management arm of Netherlands-headquartered Triodos Bank.
The Gurgaon-based company, which lends to micro and small businesses, secured the money through non-convertible debentures, which have a maturity of six years. It plans to use the money to increase its asset book and bolster expansion plans, AYE Finance said in a statement.
Chennai-based financial services firm IFMR Capital facilitated the fundraising. In fact, this was the second foreign investment deal that IFMR worked on for Aye Finance. In May, it had helped the company raise Rs 80-crore in debt investment from impact investment manager Blue Orchard.
“In the last three years, we have impacted an ecosystem of over 100,000 families through our business enterprise loans and these additional funds will bring us one step closer to our vision of impacting over 10 million households by 2020,†said Sanjay Sharma, co-founder and managing director, Aye Finance.
AYE Finance was founded in 2014 by Sharma and Vikram Jetley, both former executives of microfinance institution Ujjivan Financial Services. The company provides working capital loans of Rs 50,000 to Rs 25 lakh to small businesses.
As of 31 March 2017, the company had over Rs 130 crore in assets under management. It has set a target of touching Rs 430 crore for 2017-18. “We are raising money aggressively because the business is growing at a much faster rate. We have served 18,000 customers till date, and adding around 2,500 customers every month,†Sharma had recently told VCCircle.
AYE Finance counts LGT Impact Ventures, SAIF Partners and Accion as its equity investors.
In November 2016, the company had closed its Series B funding round at $10 million led by Zurich-based LGT Impact Ventures and existing investors SAIF and Accion.
In February 2015, SAIF Partners and Accion had co-invested an undisclosed sum in the company and followed it up with $3 million infusion in December 2015.
In April 2014, early-stage impact investment firm Contrarian Drishti Partners, along with its founder Somak Ghosh, had also invested an undisclosed amount in AYE Finance.
