India Digest: Nabard, HSBC back OPL; BII commits $10m to Asha Ventures' fund
Summary
Indian digital credit infrastructure firm OPL secured a strategic investment from Nabard and HSBC. Separately, climate- and impact-focused venture capitalist Asha Ventures secured a commitment of $10 million from British International Investment (BI) for its maiden $100 million fund.Indian digital credit infrastructure firm OPL on Monday said it has secured a strategic investment from Nabard and HSBC. While the company did not specify the size of the investment, a source familiar with the matter suggested that Nabard and HSBC have invested about Rs 80 crore ($9.3 million) for a 10% stake in the firm.Other investors in the firm include Sidbi, SBI, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Mudra, SBI Card, BOB Capital Markets, Indian Bank, HDFC Bank, and TransUnion.With Nabards expertise in rural digitisation and HSBCs global financial acumen, this partnership will accelerate innovation, enhance credit accessibility, and transform the lending ecosystem, a senior representative from OPL said.Indian climate- and impact-focused venture capitalist Asha Ventures has secured a commitment of $10 million from British International Investment (BII) for its maiden fund of $100 million.The firm launched the fund in 2023 and hit its first close of $50 million that year.The fund has previously received commitments from domestic institutions, including Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), Self-Reliant India (SRI) Fund, a private sector bank, as well as family offices of some of Indias top business leaders.With the fund, Asha Ventures Fund-I, the firm is looking to invest in early growth-stage companies targeting the emerging middle class across sectors such as financial services, healthcare, education, climate and agriculture.