Avanse Financial Services Raises $15 Mn From World Business Capital

Non-banking financial company (NBFC) Avanse Financial Services Ltd has raised $15 Mn through external commercial borrowing (ECB) route from US-based financial institution World Business Capital Inc.

In August 2019, private equity firm Warburg Pincus had taken controlling equity stake of 80% in Avanse Financial Services.

The company plans to use this investment to expand its education financing program and strengthen its lending space.

According to a media release, the company received this funding under the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) women empowerment initiative.  

External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) is a unique way of raising funds from the best of global platforms. Based on this process, we have been able to create a new category of long-tenure social impact funding. The fund will be utilised to help more deserving Indian students to fulfil their academic aspirations. We will create strategic deployment plans to support the expansion and fulfilment of education aspirations of deserving students – Amit Gainda, CEO, Avanse Financial Services.

Founded in 2012, Avanse provides loan solutions which cover school education to post-graduation and financing education institutions.

Recently, Avanse Financial Services secured INR 250 Cr under government and regulatory initiatives. Also, INR 100 Cr has been raised through the Targeted Long Term Repo Operation (TLTRO) window 2.0 by RBI from leading public sector banks and INR 150 Cr under the Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) Scheme.

Some of Avanse’s competitors include Credenc, Leap Finance and HDFC Credila.

NBFC sector is pivotal in fulfilling the credit demand of the country. Credit provided by NBFCs drives growth in consumption and hence the GDP.

Indian Lending Platforms Going Big

LeapFinance on March 3 secured seed funding of $5.5 Mn from Sequoia Capital with the participation of angel investors such as Bhupinder Singh, founder and CEO, Incred and Kunal Shah, founder, Cred among others.

Last year in October, Delhi-based startup Credenc has raised $2.5 Mn in seed funding from Omidyar Network India. Investors such as EMVC, Better Capital, and Indian Institute of Management -Kozhikode (IIMK) Alumni Fund also participated in the funding round.