Navachetna Microfin raises INR 15 Million capital from Individual Investors

Navachetna Microfin Services Limited, one of Karnataka’s upcoming microfinance companies, recently raised INR 15 M from a host of individual investors (IT Professionals) as part of its plan to scale up operations. This was the first round of capital raising

by the Haveri based microfinance company. Sloka Capital, an advisory firm that specializes on SMEs and start-ups, was the advisor for this transaction.
At present the company serves over 25,000 members who lack access to formal financial services helping them to start income generating activities such as animal husbandry, livestock rearing, trading, retailing, agricultural production and transportation. The microfinance programme of Navachetna, which started as a society, dates back to April 16, 2006 and was able to achieve break-even in its second year of operations. The company has recently transformed itself into a NBFC.
“With this investment, we hope to achieve an outreach of 100,000 members by 2010. Our team is continuously streamlining the company’s systems and processes so we can fully leverage the advantages of the NBFC status and scale up,” said Nagendra V Mali, Executive Director of Navachetna, who was adjudged as one of “India Leaders of Tomorrow” by Institute of Social Science (ISS). Nagendra Mali has also promoted Navachetna Foundation which runs several development services such as Sujala watershed project, Karnataka Public School, Agarbathi production and marketing unit and Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) on educating its clients on various income generating activities and increasing awareness on health and importance of child education.