Saarathi Finance Raises INR 475 Cr to Empower Bharat's Micro and Nano Entrepreneurs
The round was led by marquee investors including TVS Capital Funds, Lok Capital, Evolvence Equity Partners, Paragon Partners, and prominent angel investors, who together contributed INR 350 crores.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Saarathi Finance, a Greenfield NBFC founded in 2024 by Vivek Bansal (Founder and CEO) and Sunil Daga (Co-founder), has raised INR 475 crores in equity capital to support micro and nano businesses across India's underserved regions.
The round was led by marquee investors including TVS Capital Funds, Lok Capital, Evolvence Equity Partners, Paragon Partners, and prominent angel investors, who together contributed INR 350 crores. The remaining infusion came from the founders themselves, underscoring their deep conviction and commitment. The funding round values Saarathi Finance at over INR 900 crores.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Saarathi Finance is on a mission to bridge the vast INR 44 lakh crore credit gap in the MSME sector, focusing particularly on semi-urban and rural regions of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
The raised capital will be deployed to expand Saarathi's footprint, scale its tech-enabled lending platform, and build a high-quality secured and unsecured loan book tailored to MSMEs. Saarathi aims to provide flexible, fast, and personalized credit solutions, combining data-driven insights with a local understanding of its customers.
Vivek Bansal shared, "We are committed to empowering Bharat's entrepreneurs by providing more than just credit – a partnership that values and supports their growth. This funding milestone enables us to accelerate our mission, ensuring every stakeholder, from entrepreneurs to investors, is valued and cared for in our journey."
Saarathi's core offering includes secured and unsecured business loans, with a strong emphasis on flexible income assessment and rapid processing. By leveraging technology and deep customer engagement, Saarathi's philosophy—"Aap Akele Nahi Hai" (You are not alone)—is central to its promise of inclusive growth.
Backing the vision, Gopal Srinivasan of TVS Capital Funds stated, "Saarathi Finance embodies the spirit of inclusive growth… crucial to India's journey towards a USD 10 trillion economy."
With an experienced founding team and the confidence of seasoned investors, Saarathi Finance is poised to transform the credit landscape for India's grassroots entrepreneurs.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
FDIC Rates Banner Bank ‘Outstanding' in Recent Community Reinvestment Act Performance Evaluation
WALLA WALLA, Wash., June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Banner Bank leadership team is pleased to share the Bank again earned an 'Outstanding' rating from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the Bank's recent Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Performance Evaluation. 'Outstanding' is the highest available rating in a CRA evaluation and only 10% of all U.S. banks achieved it over the past five years. Under this Act, the FDIC evaluates the performance of banks in helping meet the credit needs of clients, businesses and local communities. It assesses how well banks serve and support low- and moderate-income (LMI) individuals, LMI neighborhoods and small businesses in ways that are consistent with safe and sound operation and banking practices. All banks are regularly evaluated in this area. "Earning the FDIC's highest rating is a reflection of our employees' commitment to consistently implement the core principles of CRA every day," said President and CEO Mark Grescovich. "This achievement is an outcome of our team's thoughtful, intentional effort to do the right thing for our clients and the communities we serve." This is the second consecutive exam cycle Banner earned an Outstanding rating. Since 2021, only one other bank in the 'large bank' category also earned this back-to-back rating throughout the four states we serve. "The Outstanding rating recognizes our hard work and genuine care to serve those in need—community is rightfully at the core of this effort," said Senior Vice President & CRA Director Camino Smith. "We are grateful for the strong partnerships we have built with so many community organizations that offer us invaluable feedback on how to make the greatest impact." In announcing the results of our CRA Performance Evaluation, the FDIC shared these highlights: Banner Bank has an excellent level of community development investments and grants, often in a leadership position, particularly those that are not routinely provided by private investors. The Bank makes use of innovative and/or flexible lending practices in order to serve the assessment area's credit needs. Banner Bank is a leader in providing community development services. The Bank's lending levels reflect good responsiveness to the assessment area's credit needs. Geographic distribution of Banner loans reflects good penetration throughout the assessment area. Banner Bank exhibits a good record of serving the credit needs of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the assessment area, low-income individuals, and/or very small businesses, and is a leader in making community development loans. Banner Bank delivery systems are accessible to essentially all portions of the assessment area. The Bank exhibits good responsiveness to credit and community development needs and occasionally uses innovative and/or complex investments to support community development initiatives. Our complete CRA Public File is posted and available to view on our website at: Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Public File | Banner Bank About Banner Bank Banner Bank is a Washington-chartered commercial bank serving consumer and business clients in Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho. With more than $16.2 billion in assets, Banner Bank is part of Banner Corporation (NASDAQ: BANR). Visit Banner Bank at View source version on Contacts Kelly McPhee, Senior Vice President, Communications(509) 232-1968 or Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Skift
4 hours ago
- Skift
The Leela Has Soft Debut, but Now Has IPO Cash
The Leela did everything right - the product was impeccable and the marketing was on-point. But it might have been betrayed by the intimidating "largest-in-Indian-hospitality" IPO size. The Leela's parent company Schloss Bangalore debuted on the Indian stock exchanges Monday at INR 406 ($4.74) - 7% below its IPO price. By Tuesday's close, it had only modestly recovered. The muted investor response comes despite high anticipation for the $400 Million IPO of the luxury chain – the largest in the Indian hospitality industry. Other recent travel IPOs
Skift
5 hours ago
- Skift
'Great Green Scam': IATA Chief Blames EU, Fuel Giants for Slow Climate Progress
The head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Willie Walsh, is blaming governments and fuel producers for stalling progress on aviation's climate goals. Speaking at an aviation meeting in India on Monday, Walsh said governments, particularly the European Union, have failed to provide the support needed to scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). 'From the outset we made it clear that it would be challenging and that the airlines could not do this on their own,' he said. 'Despite their enthusiasm, governments did not create a supportive policy framework to meet their 2030 interim target. The companies we need to be major SAF players like BP and Shell have cut back or delayed their investment.' According to IATA, when airlines use SAF in the EU, they have to pay compliance fees which cover the cost of blending the fuel and checking it meets the policy's requirements. 'It is an outrage that suppliers are charging airlines compliance fees that value SAF at double its market premium over conventional jet fuel. That's a billion-dollar windfall for fuel suppliers. This is the EU's great green scam.' Pressure Mounts Ahead of 2030 Aviation Climate Target IATA Directer willie walsh blamed governments and fuel producers for aviation's slow climate progress In 2021, IATA member airlines, which represent most of the global aviation sector, committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But with demand for flying rebounding sharply post-pandemic, progress has been slow. Governments gave airlines an interim target of reducing emissions by 5% by 2030. However, after a drop in emissions during Covid-19, airline emissions are expected to return to, or even exceed 2019 levels this year, according to Carbon Action Tracker. Walsh directed his sharpest criticism at the European Union's current policy, which requires airlines to use at least 2% SAF in their fuel mix by 2030. 'The EU mandate of 2% SAF in the jet fuel supply has succeeded in raising costs but has done nothing to improve production,' Walsh said. Fuel Producers Push Back Fuels Europe, which represents companies like BP and Shell, have rejected the aviation industry's claims. 'We reject claims from the aviation sector suggesting a lack of sustainable aviation fuel supply,' the group said in a statement. 'Our members are on track to meet their current mandate and exceed 2030 targets. Despite policy and investment challenges, European fuel producers have rapidly scaled SAF output and lowered costs.' An EU spokesperson told Skift it is helping with the transition to SAF through a range of initiatives such as its Refuel EU program and that the current targets are "realistic and feasible." "The implementation of ReFuelEU Aviation has already begun to stimulate production capacity within the EU, with SAF supply starting to outpace mandated minimum shares. This is a positive and necessary signal," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the EU is watching the price of SAF closely and recognizes that there continues to be "significant barriers to commercial deployment, primarily due to insufficient investment." They said there will be a dialogue on SAF later this year, with the goal of improving financing and de-risking investment. Skift's in-depth reporting on climate issues is made possible through the financial support of Intrepid Travel. This backing allows Skift to bring you high-quality journalism on one of the most important topics facing our planet today. Intrepid is not involved in any decisions made by Skift's editorial team.
