Aye Finance Pvt. Ltd said on Monday it has raised debt worth $10 million (Rs 71.3 crore at current exchange rate) led by Zurich-based responsAbility Investments AG and joined by US development finance agency Overseas Private Investment Corp. and European pension fund Alecta.
Social impact investor responsAbility led the funding with $5 million investment in Gurugram-headquartered Aye Finance through non-convertible debentures.
Aye Finance said it will use the fresh capital to offer business loans to micro-enterprises to help support their growth and transition into the formal economy. Aye founder and managing director Sanjay Sharma said the investment was validation of the startup’s business model.
“Through this transaction, we bring global markets a step closer to the impact created by our partner institutions,” responsAbility head of financial institutions for Asia-Pacific Jaskirat S Chadha said.
News of the latest fundraise comes after VCCircle reported last month-end that Aye Finance had got Rs 55 crore ($8 million then) debt from Maharashtra-based DCB Bank.
Earlier in January, Aye Finance raised $10 million (Rs 71 crore) debt from responsAbility and homegrown Northern Arc Capital.
In June 2018, VCCircle reported that Aye Finance had raised Rs 147 crore (around $21.5 million) in a Series C round of funding from CapitalG (erstwhile Google Capital), SAIF Partners and LGT Impact Ventures to grow its business.
Aye Finance, set up in 2014, provides working capital and business development loans to micro and small enterprises. It has disbursed over Rs 2,000 crore to over 125,000 grassroots businesses. Its current assets under management stand at Rs 1,200 crore, according to ratings firm ICRA.