Veritas raises Rs 120 cr from CDC Group Plc and Lok Capital

Veritas Finance Private Limited, a Chennai-based financial services firm that lends to micro and small enterprises, has raised Rs 120 crore. This includes an investment from Lok Capital and a Rs 65 crore investment from CDC Group Plc, UK’s Development Finance Institution. 

Existing investors P Surendra Pai and Mrs Pai have also participated in this round. 

Veritas raised its first institutional funding in April 2016 from Lok Fund II (Sarva Capital) and Caspian Impact Investment Adviser. 

The fresh round of funding will bolster product innovation, expansion to newer states like Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and deepen Veritas’ presence in existing states and union territories.

Founded in 2015 by Arulmany, Veritas meets a spectrum of MSME credit needs; short-term loans for working capital, medium-term loans for business expansion and long-term loans for asset creation.

 Veritas now has over 12,000 customers on board and the company aims to grow its loan book to Rs 1,000 crore by FY 19. Veritas currently operates out of 60 branches and 97 micro centers in the five states and Union Territories of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka, West Bengal and Odisha.

Arulmany, Founder, Veritas said that through this round of funding, the company will also strengthen its technology play which will help it achieve higher productivity and bring down the cost of servicing micro-businesses. 

Nikhil Balaraman, South Asia Director at CDC India Advisors, said that “Our investment in Veritas underlines our commitment to back companies with a strong development impact philosophy and business models that support financial inclusion for India’s disadvantaged". 

He added financial services for the MSME space in India is a huge area, but is also under-served.