Annapurna Finance bags $15mn from Proparco, closes funding round at $100mn
Summary
Bhubaneshwar-based financial services company, Annapurna Finance announced raising $15 million from Proparco in Series A2 funding on Friday. With the fresh funds, the company reported the overall size of the round to have increased to $100 million.This is Annapurnas fourth capital raise in the past 15 months, following investments of $30 million in March 2021 from Nuveen Global Impact Fund, $20 million in November 2021 from DEG, and $35 million in April 2022 from Encourage Capital, Accion, and current investor Oikocredit.According to reports, the company would utilise the capital to increase the size of its loan book, make technical investments, broaden its geographic reach, and advance its objective of enabling financial inclusion at scale. Furthermore, the firm will also reportedly work to expand its tech stack with the aid of the funds raised in order to provide more effective, automated, and paperless financial solutions to its customers.Commenting on the fundraising, the Managing Director at Annapurna Finance, Gobinda Chandra Pattanaik said, We are thrilled to have our existing debt partner Proparco further support us and now partner with us on the equity side. We continue to invest heavily in our tech capabilities and operations to further boost the financial inclusion objectives of Annapurna over the next decade and strive to take it towards our larger banking ambitions.Diane Jegam, Regional Director - South Asia at Proparco also commented on the fundraising, by saying, It gives us immense pleasure to back the founders, who have meticulously, thoughtfully and consistently built Annapurna, with a strong yet nimble business model that has focused on making financial services and products available to financially excluded people especially women in rural areas of India. We are looking forward to Annapurnas exciting journey and believe in their ability to grow profitably while also creating a significant impact.