Fintech startup SarvaGram said it has secured $10.5 million in a Series B equity Investment round led by Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) along with pro-rata participation from existing investor Elevar Equity.
This funding will be utilised to strengthen rural lending firm's technology platform, expand its reach into new geographies and launch new offerings.
Co-founded by Utpal Isser and Sameer Mishra, SarvaGram attempts to marry the on-ground presence with enabling technology to better identify and serve its target customers. SarvaGram has developed and deployed proprietary tools, including scorecards for various customer segments to automate its lending decision.
“We are delighted to have two highly discerning private equity investors as our partners in this journey to create unique financial and productivity-enhancing solutions for the emerging middle-classes in rural India, a journey which really starts from recognising that the needs of this aspirational, productive segment of rural economy are specific and need bespoke attention and solutions to further aid their growth,” said Utpal Isser, Co-Founder and CEO of SarvaGram.
Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity said, “The massive opportunity that rural India presents is well known, however, building and scaling distribution in the rural context requires a deep understanding of these markets and of rural households. It has been great to see how Utpal and Sameer have leveraged their deep experience in rural financial services to design a platform that taps into household-level data & insights and built a distribution business that has proven robust even through the pandemic.”
Mridul Arora, Managing Director, Elevation Capital said, “Utpal and Sameer bring an intimate understanding of the rural market and the rural customer. The team's customer-centric ethos, ground-up product thinking and combination of high touch and tech are truly distinctive. We deeply resonate with SarvaGram's mission to build a household-focused lender catering to the aspirations of rural India and are excited to be partners on their journey.”
