Suryoday Microfinance Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based micro finance institution operating as a non-banking finance company, has raised Rs 27 crore (around $4.5 million) in a fresh round of funding led by International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, according to a The Economic Times report.
IFC has invested about Rs 15 crore, its first investment in Suryoday Microfinance, while existing investors impact investment firms Lok Capital and Aavishkaar Goodwell have invested Rs 6.2 crore each.
The transaction was structured by advisory services firm Intellecap.
Earlier in January last year, the company had raised Rs 20 crore in its fourth round of institutional funding, led by existing investors Aavishkaar Goodwell and Lok Capital. Besides, it had raised Rs 7 crore from Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Holdings and HDFC Life.
The micro lender has so far garnered between $20 million and $25 million of funding and will use the fresh round of funding to expand its network across the country.
Suryoday Microfinance has a gross loan portfolio of Rs 345 crore and a customer base of 3,01,000.
Promoted by bankers R Baskar Babu, VL Ramakrishnan and Ganesh Rao, Suryoday Microfinance extends loans to salaried women (informal sector) working as housemaids, cooks or in small factories and self employed women working as vegetable/fruit vendors, small shop owners, etc.
IFC’s Indian portfolio companies include Vistaar Financial Services Private Limited, Janalakshmi Financial Services, Bandhan Financial Services, Au Financiers (INDIA) and Magma Fincorp.
In the space, Bhubaneshwar-based Annapurna Microfinance raised Rs 30 crore from Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries and Incofin Investment Management's Rural Impulse Fund-II in March.
Also, Bangalore-based Grameen Koota raised Rs 80 crore from existing investor MicroVentures Investments, a Luxembourg-based investment fund that provides equity and debt financing to MFIs in Asia and Latin America.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)