Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE), a division of financial services firm Standard Chartered, has invested $17m in India-based finance facilitator IFMR Capital, according to LiveMint, and plans to increase the funding to $50m.
IFMR links larger investors with local finance providers such as microlenders and local debt providers to supply finance to small households, farms, small businesses and affordable housing financiers.
Emerging markets-focused private equity firm Leapfrog Investments supplied $29m to IFMR in early 2014 before joining Accion and Lok Capital to invest $25m in August 2015. Eight Roads Ventures, a subsidiary of financial services group Fidelity International, added $24m last month.
IFMR intends to use the capital to further develop its technology base and extend the industries in which it operates to include financial technology and educational finance.
Udai Dhawan, managing director and head of India for SCPE, said: “There is a huge opportunity in the financial inclusion theme, not just in India but across various markets.
“We have invested in Vietnam in a mobile wallet and payments company, they also offer branchless banking to people who do not have access to formal credit, have invested in peer-to-peer lending company in China.”