Venture debt firm IntelleGrow, part of the impact investment-focussed Aavishkaar Intellecap Group, on Tuesday announced the appointment of Nikesh Kumar Sinha as its chief executive officer.
Sinha joins from private-sector lender Axis Bank, where he headed the medium enterprises group within the SME vertical. He held various other positions during his two decades with the firm.
Non-banking finance company Jain Sons Finlease Ltd, which operates under the brand IntelleGrow, specialises in offering cashflow-based loans to SMEs and early-stage enterprises in India.
“I have carefully seen the evolution of the MSME space in India and I am convinced that non-banking finance companies that can align technology to finance have an exceptional potential to create significant value for their stakeholders and achieve scale,” Sinha said in the statement.
He takes over at IntelleGrow from Arun Diaz, who was serving as interim CEO after Akbar Khan quit in March. Diaz remains a senior advisor at the firm.
Sinha has more than 21 years of experience in banking and finance. He is an alumnus of St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata and Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal.
IntelleGrow offers loans to SMEs with ticket sizes ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 10 crore. Its target customers include fintech companies, early-stage startups and small non-banking financial companies including microfinance institutions.
IntelleGrow claims to have disbursed over Rs 1,300 crore across 280 deals.
The firm's backers include impact investment firm Omidyar Network; Triodos Investment Management, the investment arm of European lender Triodos Bank; US-based fund manager Developing World Markets (DWM); community development financial institution Calvert Foundation; Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development finance institution; and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), a philanthropic organisation started by the founder of technology company Dell.
