Venture debt firm BlackSoil provides Rs 35 cr growth capital to 5 startups

Investor says unique business positioning of the five firms and ability to survive through adversities like Covid is what made them attractive propositions for BlackSoil

Venture debt player BlackSoil today announced that it has provided Rs 35 crore growth capital in the form of Venture Debt to five startups. These include a two-wheeler vehicle financing company, Orange, marketing automation platform  WebEngage, D2C FMCG brand Habanero Foods, a fintech offering personal loans called CASHe and a leading branded generic pharma company.

“These companies have shown tremendous growth in their segments and are backed by experienced management and marquee investors. Their unique business positioning and ability to survive through adversities like Covid is what made these companies attractive propositions for BlackSoil," said Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder and Director of BlackSoil.

Orange Retail Finance is a Chennai-based new two-wheeler financing company. Rural and semi-urban regions of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala are the company's target markets. Orange operates through 85 branches in 11,200=plus villages across these five states and currently serving 88,500 customers accumulating to Rs 335 crore-plus assets under management (AUM).

Orange primarily caters to the underserved segments with a focus on financial inclusion and therefore the majority of its customers are new to credit. Orange is backed by marquee institutions & sophisticated HNIs like Granite Hill Opportunities Fund, Ashvin Chaddha & IAS Balamurugan (Founders of Anicut Capital), VP Nandkumar (CEO of Manappuram Finance), Jitendra Gupta (Founder of Jupiter Neo Bank) etc.

WebEngage is a Mumbai-based full-stack marketing automation platform that offers cloud solutions for customer engagement and retention. Company caters to various industries like E-Commerce, Travel / Hospitality, BFSI, Gaming, Ed-Tech, Media and Entertainment. It has its presence in India, Middle East, North Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and others. Company has 300+ paying customers and is backed by India Quotient, Indian Angel Network, NB Ventures, Blume Ventures, etc.

Habanero is an omni-channel brand selling continental cooking sauces / salsa, ready to cook pasta sauces, tortilla wraps, etc. through their own website, marketplaces as well as retail. It operates in the affordable premium segment with products based on authentic international recipes. Habanero’s products are present in 1,000+ retail stores in 18+ cities across India. In FY21, despite the pandemic the company’s sales grew >170% YoY. It was founded by industry veteran Mr. Griffith David (ex-Intel & Yahoo) who also runs one of the most successful Subway franchises in India.

CASHe is a Mumbai-based FinTech providing personal loans and “buy now, pay later” products to salaried individuals through an app and a proprietary underwriting algorithm based on alternate data. The company has disbursed ₹3,000 Cr till date and has borrowers pan-India with a current AUM of ₹400+ Cr.

BlackSoil has also provided debt to a leading branded generic pharmaceutical company. The company has products across therapeutic segments including consumer healthcare, respiratory care, primary care, diabetes care and women's health. It has a pan-India presence and robust distribution network covering over 150,000 retail pharmacies. The company will primarily use the funds to meet its growth led working capital requirements.