Helping affordable schools access capital; Northern Arc Capital secures $75M

Hello,

Water is more than just a basic survival need. 

India’s worsening water crisis, triggered by high consumption amid rapid economic growth and frequent natural disasters, can hurt the country's sovereign credit strength, says credit ratings firm Moody's.

Against the backdrop of a prolonged heatwave scorching parts of north India, the warning is grim, indeed.

In stark contrast, the mood was much more optimistic among investors as Indian benchmark indices had their best day in over a fortnight, settling at record closing highs. 

Meanwhile, Adani Enterprises is also piquing the interest of investors, after CFO Jugeshinder Singh said the group is eying a public listing of its airport business by fiscal 2027-28.

The group also plans to infuse Rs 60,000 crore into its airports over the next decade, Fortune reported.

ICYMI: How one of the world’s richest men built his luxury empire, and what he plans to conquer next.

In other news, China’s Chang’e-6 probe, named after the Chinese moon goddess, has successfully touched down on Earth with rare rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon. 

The mission’s lander spent two days collecting samples from the 1,600-mile-wide South Pole-Aitken basin before embarking on its way home.

Not only is this an impressive technological feat, but it may also shed light on the impact history of the Earth and the origins of the moon. 

“Mysterious as the dark side of the moon” no more!

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about 

• Expanding access to affordable education
• Northern Arc Capital secures $75M
• Redefining comfort in loungewear

Here’s your trivia for today: Who was the first nominated woman member of the Rajya Sabha?

Startup

Expanding access to affordable education

Varthana provides loans to small private schools that lack existing banking relationships but need the money for activities like expanding classrooms, constructing or upgrading labs, or buying school buses.

“Most banks avoid underwriting loans for such schools due to preconceived notions about their creditworthiness and the challenges involved in the underwriting process,” explains Co-founder Steve Hardgrave.

Supporting education:

• Many of the schools that Varthana extends loans to provide education to children whose parents are farmers, daily wage labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers, and other workers from low-income backgrounds.
• Over 11 years, Varthana has often provided multiple loans to the same schools, helping them expand from 300 students to as many as 2,000-3,000 students.
• Varthana has recently ventured into the student loan sector. This new initiative focuses on helping students who have completed their 10th or 12th grades to pursue higher education or vocational training. 

Funding Alert

Startup: Rocketlane

Amount: $24M

Round: Series B

Startup: Zyod

Amount: $18M

Round: Series A

Startup: Sid's Farm

Amount: $10M

Round: Series A

Funding

Northern Arc Capital secures $75M

NBFC Northern Arc Capital Limited has secured $75 million from Dutch development bank FMO through senior secured non-convertible debentures listed on BSE, with a five-year tenure.

This transaction boosts Northern Arc's total exposure from FMO to $125 million.

Key takeaways:

• Northern Arc Capital's nPOS is a cloud-based API-enabled platform that streamlines loan processes for partnership and co-lending businesses, while Nimbus provides end-to-end debt transaction management.
• In April, Northern Arc secured $80 million in funding from the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, in equal halves of debt and equity components.
• Northern Arc handles assets under management of Rs 10,081 crore. The firm is backed by equity investors including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, LeapFrog, 360 ONE etc.

Women Entrepreneurs

Redefining comfort in loungewear

In 2017, sisters Riddhi and Sudiskha Jain decided to build a loungewear brand NeceSera that brings quality clothes to the Indian market. Seven years and a pandemic later, the company has a customer base of over 34,000 across India.

“My idea was, if you buy a loungewear set from us today, two years later, it should still look stellar and as fashionable in your wardrobe,” says Riddhi.

Sustainability as value:

• NeceSera's fabric range includes ‘Lushknit’, a mini-waffle fabric with a 3D texture; Bamboo Terry, a blend of modal, cotton, nylon and spandex meant to be ultra-soft with thermoregulatory properties; and Luxflo, crafted from an in-house developed tri-blend fabric.
• NeceSera sources from subsidised drip-irrigated cotton in Gujarat and Better Cotton Initiative, a sustainability initiative for cotton and a non-profit, multistakeholder governance group that promotes better standards in cotton farming.
• The company also uses Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified dyes and recycles 75% of the water they use in a recycling unit set up inside their factory in Faridabad.

News & updates

• Approved: Novo Nordisk said its Wegovy weight loss treatment has been approved in China for long-term weight management, opening up the uber-popular drug for sale in the world’s second-largest economy.
• Big tech: EU antitrust regulators launched another series of probes into big tech, charging Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product, and said that more needed to be done to unbundle the package.
• Recall: Tesla is recalling its futuristic new Cybertruck pickup for the fourth time in the US to fix problems with trim pieces that can come loose and front windshield wipers that can fail.

Who was the first nominated woman member of the Rajya Sabha?

Answer: Rukmini Devi Arundale. She was an eminent Bharatnatyam dancer and activist for animal welfare.

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