Rural fintech startup Jai Kisan raises $30 mn in debt and equity

Mumbai-headquartered rural fintech startup Jai Kisan has raised $30 million (Rs 217 crores) in debt and equity for its Series A round of funding led by Mirae Asset.  

The company, in a statement, said that Syngenta Ventures also joined the round for equity infusion, apart from returning investors Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures, NABVENTURES, Prophetic Ventures and Better.  

The round’s debt component was financed by Blacksoil, Stride Ventures and Trifecta Capital.  

The company, operated by Greenizon Agritech Consultancy, will use the capital to hire talent, enhance engineering and data science capabilities as well as expansion and building its lending portfolio. 

It had last raised $3.9 million in a bridge round of led by Arkam Ventures in June 2020. 

Founded in 2017 by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, Jai Kisan provides digital financing services including online and offline credit, credit for income generation and financing rural commerce transactions through point-of-sale credit. The platform provides equipment financing, input financing and invoice financing at present.  

Jai Kisan said it recorded annualised loan disbursal run-rate of Rs 432 crore for the financial year ending March 2021.  

Both Ahluwalia and Maniego are business graduates from Texas A&M University. 

“Despite the pandemic’s multiple waves, we have seen stellar growth on our top line and bottom line while ensuring robust portfolio quality. As most financial institutions took a step back due to reliance on ground operations, it was the resilient nature of our team that made Jai Kisan standby its borrowers through these tough times,” Ahluwalia said in the statement. 

The company also launched digital ledger and smart business solution for rural businesses, Bharat Khata in April 2020. The app claims to have processed over $380 million (Rs 2,790 crore) Gross Transaction Value as on March 2021 and is used by 25,000 storefronts.  

Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank to provide customers in rural India access to low-priced credit and other financial services. 

“Jai Kisan is at the cusp of disrupting the rural financing industry and we’re glad to be a part of their growth story,” said Ashish Dave, CEO of Mirae Asset - India Venture Investments in the statement.  

The agri-fintech space includes NBFC players including Samunnati which underwrites loans for Farmer Producer Organisations, Kissandhan, a subsidiary of Sohan Lal Commodity Management among others.