[Funding alert] BlackSoil NBFC raises Rs 22 Cr via NCDs to invest in growth startups, MSMEs

Venture debt and alternative credit fund BlackSoilCapital Pvt Ltd (NBFC) on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 22 crore by issuing secured debentures to family offices and high net worth individuals on a private placement basis.

With this round, the non-banking financial services firm has managed to raise around Rs 80 crore in the current financial year, the company said.

"The funds raised through this NCDs issue will be utilised primarily for lending activities. It will be used to primarily fund growth startups and MSMEs," BlackSoil said in the statement.

Since its inception 4.5 years ago, BlackSoil has raised a total of Rs 287 crore via multiple NCD issues and about 30 percent of the same has been repaid as well, according to the official statement.

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The firm said that it has reduced coupons by 1.5 percent, which means the pricing has been lowered by 150 basis points in the past one year despite the pandemic.

"At BlackSoil, despite COVID-19, we have seen massive 35 percent growth in disbursement amount compared to last year, which makes us confident that emerging businesses have finally warmed up to the concept of considering alternative avenues of fundraising," Blacksoil Director and Co-founder Ankur Bansal said.

In January 2021, the alternative credit platform had raised Rs 32 crore from 60+ investors for a tenor of three years.

BlackSoil has permanent capital in the form of equity raised from family offices. It is sponsored by family offices, including Chairman of AllCargo Logistics Shashi Kiran Shetty, and Managing Director of Navneet Education Ganesh D Gala.

The NBFC has successfully deployed Rs 1,400 crore in the last four years across 90+ transactions. Some of BlackSoil's portfolio companies include hospitality unicorn OyoRooms, rental startup Rentomojo, design-led lifestyle brand Chumbak, bike-rental startup Vogo Automotive, rental used car retailing platform Spinny, logistics startup LetsTransport, and edtech startup iNurture, among others.