Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Annapurna Microfinance has today announced raising a new funding round, led by Bamboo Capital Partners. The VC firm has injected fresh equity capital of ₹32.4 crore into the company.

Along with BCP, the funding round also saw the participation of existing investors – BIO and Oikocredit, injecting additional capital of ₹28.6 crore into the company.

The company says that it will use the newly raised capital to further advance its growth and its expansion efforts.

Speaking on this development, Mr Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik, MD & CEO of Annapurna said,

We are excited to work with our new investment partner in the form of Bamboo Capital Partners and equally thrilled to have the additional equity from BIO and Oikocredit, both of them have been our long-standing partners.

He further says that by leveraging the financial experience and access to capital, the Annapurna Management Team will be able to take advantage of new opportunities in the microfinance sector and strategically move forward in serving more clients with no or limited access to finance from the mainstream sector.

Mr. Imraan Mohammed, Fund Manager & Head of Asia, of Bamboo Capital Partners, said, “Aside from the significant growth and stellar financial performance that Annapurna has demonstrated over the last few years, what really stood out for us was the tight operational culture the Management team has built and embedded into the firm and a holistic strategy which embraces both diversifications as well as a deepening within its core areas and customer segments to serve the base of the economic pyramid, particularly in the less penetrated provinces of eastern India where financial inclusion levels are still very low. We are excited about the investment and look forward to having a long-term partnership with Annapurna that benefits all stakeholders.”

Annapurna has experienced significant growth in its loan portfolio and operations over the last 3 years whilst maintaining excellent portfolio quality.

In October 2016 Incofin, Annapurna’s long-time investor, exited the majority of its stake with a strong return, through a secondary share sale to Women’s World Banking Capital Partners for ₹50.5 crore.

In previous capital rounds, Annapurna had received equity supports from SIDBI IMEF, SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd (SVCL), BIO, Incofin Investment Management, DCB Bank and Oikocredit.

Annapurna Microfinance currently operates in 10 different states with over 0.9 million borrowers and a Gross Loan Portfolio/ Total Assets of about ₹12,360 million as on March 2017.

While Annapurna’s core areas of operation have tended to be in the eastern states i.e. Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the company has been expanding its footprint into neighbouring states successfully and is now also exploring further expansion into the states of Punjab & Haryana, where operations are expected to commence in the near future.

By Jeet