SarvaGram raises $35M funding in Series C led by Elevar Equity

SarvaGram, a rural household-focused lending and distribution platform, has raised $35 million in series C led by Elevar Equity. Elevation Capital, Temasek, and TVS Capital Funds also participated in the funding round.

In February 2021, the company had raised $10 million in Series B led by Elevation Capital and Elevar Equity.

With this funding round, SarvaGram plans to expand its distribution network by adding 75 more outlets to reach 125 by the end of FY 2024.

The funds would also be deployed towards strengthening the technology layer—both in terms of hiring tech talent and solidifying SarvaGram’s existing tech stack—to support and enhance business operations. Additionally, the company plans to advance its data analytics capabilities with the aim of enhancing customer experience and offerings, along with widening the customer funnel.

Founded by veteran rural bankers Utpal Isser and Sameer Mishra, SarvaGram built its proprietary tools which would be used to serve its target customers through its on-ground presence. Headquartered in Mumbai, SarvaGram currently operates out of eight hubs, over 50+ outlets across four states, and has more than 250 franchise partners covering 8,000 odd villages.

“Sameer and I are extremely privileged and excited to on-board our new investors Temasek and TVS Capital Funds to SarvaGram, and are very thankful to Elevar Equity and Elevation Capital for their continued belief in us, our platform, and in the strength of India’s growing rural economy," said Utpal Isser, Co-founder, MD, and CEO, SarvaGram.

"Having successfully executed our household-centric hypothesis across tens of thousands of rural households, we now understand our customers much better. The fundraise will boost our mission of putting more power in the hands of rural households by enhancing our technology platform, strengthening the data analytics layer apart from growing our distribution and adding on-ground human capacity,” he added.

“Having partnered with several founders from scratch to help build scale in delivering essential services, we are most excited about the fact that SarvaGram is at the cusp of two critical trends. First, the inflection point in rural markets as demonstrated by growing economic activity and aspirations seen across rural households, and second, leveraging the entry point of financial services for a truly data led broader distribution strategy," said Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity. 

"This round provides aligned growth capital to help the company execute to their scale ambitions after successfully demonstrating robust financial margins in the business model,” she added.

“We are delighted to double down on our partnership with Utpal, Sameer, and the SarvaGram team as they pioneer a household-focused approach to rural lending and distribution. Their lending offering is unique and creates the foundation to offer a range of solutions—unlike the urban salaried individual with a payslip, assessing income for a rural borrower is tricky—given multiple income streams, variability in agricultural earnings, and limited paper trails," said Mridul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital.

"While collateral may be available, the documentation is non-standardised. Consequently, the 150M household-strong rural market is underserved by banks and large NBFCs—a clear whitespace addressed by SarvaGram. We are impressed by the team’s strong execution in a tough environment, scaling to Rs 275 crore AUM, while maintaining tight credit quality and approaching profitability,” he said.