[Funding alert] Fintech lender Kinara Capital secures Rs 380 Cr in equity led by Nuveen

Kinara Capital, an MSME fintech, on Tuesday announced that it has raised a fresh equity round of Rs 380 crores led by Nuveen , a global investment manager with over $1.3 trillion of assets under management, with participation from Triple Jump, a Dutch impact-focused investment manager advising the ASN Microkredietfonds.

With this funding, Kinara Capital closes its Series E round and marks 7th year of profitability.

With this equity round, Kinara Capital gains two new members on its Board of Directors with Nuveen's Managing Director & Co-Head of Private Equity Impact, Rekha Unnithan, and Nuveen’s Director of Private Equity Impact, Stephen Lee. As shareholders, Nuveen and Triple Jump will support Kinara’s continued growth and the continued development of their best in class ESG and impact management system.

Hardika Shah, Founder and CEO, Kinara Capital, said,

“We at Kinara Capital are immensely thrilled with the dual investment from Nuveen and Triple Jump who are uniting to support small business entrepreneurs in India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This is a true attestation of our sustainable business model and the vast MSME market opportunity ahead of us.

This fresh equity round will energise us to scale faster so that we can continue doing what we do best, which is to bring more small business entrepreneurs into the fold of financial inclusion.”

This new equity investment will lead to Kinara’s expansion of products and services to meet the rapidly increasing MSME credit demand in India. The startup aims to grow by 500 percent by 2025 with plans to disburse Rs 10,000 crores of MSME business loans in the next three years.

With the advanced use of AI/ML, the company’s vernacular-friendly myKinara app can take MSME applicants from loan decision-to-disbursement within 24-hours. More than 300 sub-sectors across Manufacturing, Trading, and Services MSME sectors can avail Kinara’s collateral-free business loans in the range of INR 1-30 lakhs.

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Its products include collateral-free business loan offerings of Asset Purchase Loan for new or used machines, Long-Term Working Capital Loan, and Bill Discounting Loan which support ongoing needs such as shop renovations, purchase of stock or raw materials, machine repair, hiring of seasonal help, or related business growth requirements of a small business. Existing Kinara customers can further gain an advantage with lower-cost loans of shorter tenure by opting for a Short-Term Working Capital Loan or Loan Against Property. All women entrepreneurs qualify for an automatic discount with Kinara’s HerVikas program. In addition, Kinara offers free monthly informational workshops in multiple languages with its Grow With Kinara series.

To date, Kinara Capital has disbursed Rs 3,000 crores across 75,000+ collateral-free business loans enabling vast financial inclusion of the underserved small business entrepreneurs in India.

Rekha Unnithan, Managing Director and Co-Head of Private Impact Investing, Nuveen, said,

“Nuveen seeks out innovative companies who are transforming economies and solving real-world problems. Kinara Capital and its leadership are par excellence in how they have disrupted small business lending in India. Taking a digital-first approach without compromising on human customer service, Kinara has outclassed others with its ability to address the pain points of MSMEs in India. With a decade worth of proprietary data, Kinara has perfected its qualification processes and turnaround time. We at Nuveen are proud to invest fully in Kinara Capital, and together, we will turn to the next chapter of growth.”

“Triple Jump is proud to invest in Kinara Capital which is leading with a sustainable business model and creating a systemic shift in how small business entrepreneurs should be considered and served, especially women entrepreneurs. Impact is core to Kinara’s business and the company has never wavered from its mission of financial inclusion. We are impressed by Kinara’s genuine commitment towards gender parity both within its organization by leading with a women-majority management team and with its HerVikas program for women entrepreneurs,” added Orsolya Farkas, Equity Manager, Triple Jump.