Financial inclusion platform Avanti Finance raises Rs 120 crore from Dia Vikas Capital, others

Bengaluru-based Avanti Finance, a technology-led NBFC focused on financial inclusion, has secured $14.2 million (Rs 120 crore) equity funding from Dia Vikas Capital, existing investors IDH Farmfit Fund, NRJN Family Trust, Rabo Partnerships, and select HNIs.

The company’s early investors include The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OikoCredit & Nomura.

Before this round, It raised $24 million in a Series B funding round in April last year. With the current funding, the total amount raised is around $80 million.

What does Avanti Finance do?

Established in 2018, Avanti Finance offers small-ticket loans primarily for income generation and working capital to micro-enterprises. The company recently made a foray into the urban gig worker segment. 

It has developed a diversified, asset-light and unique distribution network of curated partners consisting of smaller financial institutions, agtech players and fintech partners that collectively originate and serve its customers at over 700 branches spread across 27 states and 430+ districts.

Avanti has partnered with reputed financial institutions, which makes it both scalable and capital-efficient.

The company claims to have served 900,000 low-income households with an AUM of Rs 1640 crore. Notably, 90% of its borrowers are women served via an assisted technology model, with loan products carefully designed to mirror livelihood-specific cashflows enabled by Avanti’s deep tech and highly agile platform.

Investor comments

Arpita Pal Agrawal, MD & CEO of Dia Vikas Capital, said, “We are really excited to partner with Avanti with their vision and work to create impact at scale across India by combining the power of technology and a curated network of diverse partners to offer hyperlocal, crowdsourced , fit for purpose loan products to enhance financial well being of low income households”

Dia Vikas Capital is a subsidiary of Opportunity International Australia, which partners with Inclusive financial service providers with innovative, sustainable, resilient, scalable solutions that address the complex nature of poverty and leverage digital technologies to scale and sustain them.