 "Aye Finance raises Rs 310 cr in funding round led by UK development agency")
Digital lender Aye Finance has raised Rs 310 crore in a funding round led by British International Investment (BII), the United Kingdom’s development finance institution. Waterfield Fund of Funds and Aye’s shareholder A91 Partners participated in the Series F round.
Aye Finance four years ago raised Rs 210 crore in a Series E round led by CapitalG, the independent growth fund of Alphabet, the parent company of search giant Google. To date, Aye Finance has raised over Rs 1,000 crore in equity.
“This equity raise is a testament to the strong conviction that investors have in a high-quality franchise such as Aye. We believe there is immense potential in lending to underserved micro-enterprises and the fresh capital will provide a strong fillip to our compounding story,” said Sanjay Sharma, co-founder, managing director and chief executive officer of Aye Finance.
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The Gurugram-based company provides working capital and small loans to micro-enterprises. Aye Finance has more than Rs 3,600 crore as assets under management and announced a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 80 crore for the first half of Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24).
The company has lent more than Rs 8,000 crore to small businesses since it began operations in 2014. Aye Finance has 395 offices in 22 states to provide mortgage, hypothecation and term loan services to micro enterprises.
“There are over 64 million MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) in India and only 11 per cent of micro enterprises have access to formal credit. Therefore, I am thrilled that through partnering with Aye, we are not only helping to bridge this gap but also enabling micro entrepreneurs and their employees to grow their businesses and incomes,” said Gaurav Malhotra, director for financial services at BII.
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Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to the fintech firm for the series F fundraising transaction.