Social Entrepreneurship, Financial Inclusion and Mobile Money Blog
Ujjivan Financial Services, one of India’s leading urban poor-focused microfinance institutions, has raised Rupees 127.9 Crores (USD 25.5 Million) in its fifth round of equity funding. Two new Foreign Institutional Investors FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company) and WCP Mauritius Holdings III (Wolfensohn Capital Partners) and existing investors participated in this round. Speaking on the funding, Mr. [...]
On December 20, 2011, MicroRate,with the support of LuxFLAG and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,launched Luminis™ the first web-based, analytical platform focused on microfinance funds, also known as microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs). The website can be accessed at www.luminismicrofinance.com With thesuccess of microfinance and the growing interest in impact investments that deliver both financial returns [...]
The Norwegian Microfinance Initiative (NMI) and Utkarsh Micro Finance Pvt Ltd (Utkarsh) announced that the NMI Frontier Fund KS had led an Rs 25 Crore (250 Million) Series B investment in Utkarsh. A registered Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC), Utkarsh currently operates in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Utkarsh Microfinance It has 56 branches, over 57,000 active clients and a [...]
Upaya Social Ventures has announced that it will be collaborating with Samridhi Agri-Products to establish community dairies that will create jobs and stabilize income for families living in extreme poverty. Launching in one of the poorest states in India, Uttar Pradesh-based Samridhi connects poor milk producers directly to the emerging formal dairy supply chain. Upaya [...]
Impact Assets is a non-profit financial services company created to help solve the world’s toughest problems by catalyzing investment capital for maximum environmental, social and financial impact. Last month it released it’s list of top 50 Impact Investing funds of the world. These 50 impact investment funds totally manage US $8.9 billion in assets among [...]
Janalakshmi raises another Rs 65 cr from Citi Venture to fund growth The money was raised as part of an ongoing round (‘Series C)’ and more is expected to be raised in the coming weeks. Earlier, it had raised Rs 100 crore as part of its Series A and Series B funding. ET Initial lending [...]
Svasti Microfinance Private Limited ( www.svasti.in), a Mumbai-based start-up Microfinance company, has successfully closed its second round of equity funding at the end of March 2011. Through its subsidiary in Mauritius, BlueOrchard Private Equity Fund has invested Rs. 4.5 crores. Grameen Capital India acted as exclusive advisor to Svasti on this transaction. The funds will [...]
Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia and East Africa, last week announced Meghna Rao as its new Acumen Fund India Director. Ms. Rao comes to Acumen Fund with strong experience in venture capital, technology and manufacturing operations and will oversee the expansion of Acumen Fund’s work in India. Acumen [...]
A group of 40 global investors have become the first to sign the Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance. The principles have been formally launched today at the Responsible Finance Forum, hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, the Netherlands. Principles for Investors in Inclusive Finance Principles for Investors in Inclusive [...]
SBI (ShoreBank International Ltd.) last week announced that Triodos Ventures BV, the innovative arm of the Triodos group of companies, has become the anchor shareholder of SBI. With an initial investment from Triodos Ventures BV, SBI will strengthen its position as a leading international advisory firm in the inclusive finance industry. Together, Triodos Ventures BV [...]
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