Avanti Finance raises $15 mn in Series A from Oikocredit, Gates Foundation

Bengaluru-based Avanti Finance, a technology-led NBFC focused on financial inclusion, has raised a tranche of $15 million (Rs 111 crore) in its Series A round from existing investors Oikocredit, Nomura, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Dr. K R Shroff Foundation. With this, the company’s total Series A fundraise, including debt funding round, has come to $41 million (Rs 306 crore).

Avanti will use the funds to strengthen its deep tech platform, bolster data science, enhance its product suite and expand the team to enable unparalleled access to affordable credit and financial empowerment to millions of unserved and underserved households in India. It will further strengthen its ecosystem to partner with social enterprises and foundations, financial institutions, business correspondents and agtech innovators across the country, who can leverage Avanti’s platform to serve users in a digital first manner providing for scale and sustainability.

Rahul Gupta, CEO of Avanti said, “The Avanti team is excited and ready to accelerate our mission. We are grateful to our board and investors for reposing their faith in our unique business model to democratise credit to the next 100 million households and make every loan an impact story”

 “We have also built a successful “proof-of-concept” of a digital form of credit delivery to customers who are not digitally savvy through the assisted mode. Third-party capital lending — which will not be on Avanti's balance sheet — provides other institutions interested in financial inclusion the opportunity to leverage the powerful trifecta we have developed. That is hyper-local, community partnerships and the digital spine that we have built,” Gupta told Business Standard earlier.