Jai Kisan raises $30 Mn in Series A funding

BENGALURU: Rural fintech startup Jai Kisan on Monday said it has raised $30 million (approximately Rs217 crore), in a combination of equity and debt, as a part of its Series A round of funding led by Mirae Asset.

New investor Syngenta Ventures, along with existing investors Blume, Arkam Ventures, NAB Ventures (NABARD), Prophetic Ventures and Better, also participated in the round. The debt capital was raised from Blacksoil, Stride Ventures and Trifecta Capital.

The company will use the proceeds to hire more talent, as it looks to enhance its engineering and data science capabilities. The company also plans to expand into new geographies and start building an on-book portfolio, through the current fundraise.

Founded by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, Jai Kisan is a technology platform which focuses on providing credit as well as a suite of financial products to the rural economy. It partners with equipment dealers, agriculture retailers, collection centers and market linkage platforms, to directly provide credit to farmers, working in the agriculture, poultry and dairy value chain.

“With the quality of our investors and quantum of capital we are excited for the next phase of growth and changing the way rural India accesses financial services. Despite the pandemic’s multiple waves, we have seen stellar growth on our top line and bottom line while ensuring robust portfolio quality. The resilience of our farmers, partners and the entire rural sector keeps us motivated to create significant impact by further disruption in the space” saidArjun Ahluwalia, co-founder and chief executive officer, Jai Kisan.

At present, Jai Kisan works with more than 700 organised and unorganised entities, to distribute financial products to over 1.5 lakh rural individuals including farmers.

“Jai Kisan is at the cusp of disrupting the rural financing industry and we’re glad to be a part of their growth story. Jai Kisan’s growth, asset quality and expanding footprint make them a highly differentiated player in the segment.” said Ashish Dave, CEO of Mirae Asset - India Venture Investments.

In April last year, Jai Kisan launched its digital ledger product for rural businesses called Bharat Khata. Within a year of launch, over $380 million in transaction value has been processed through Bharat Khata at over 25,000 storefronts, the company said.

“The low penetration of traditional financing institutions in the (farming) sector creates significant financial stress for smallholder farmers. We have been very impressed by the digitally-driven approach taken by Jai Kisan to manage the end to end flow of credit, thereby proving that it is viable to extend formal credit to small farmers and overcome structural challenges,” said Shubhang Shankar, managing director, Syngenta Group Ventures.

Jai Kisan claims to have achieved an annualized loan disbursal run-rate of ₹432 crore as of March 2021.