Vistaar raises USD 50 mn funding from DFC

Vistaar Financial Services has secured USD 50 million funding from the US government’s development finance institution, the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

The Bengaluru-based Vistaar, founded by Brahmanand Hegde and Ramakrishna Nishtala in 2010, has so far funded over 2 lakh small businesses across 12 states since inception and has a loan book of Rs 3,100 crore. In May, the company had raised USD 40 million in equity from the global private equity major Warburg Pincus. The DFC loan will help it expand its secured MSME lending portfolio, Avijit Saha, the chief executive said in a statement on Wednesday.

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The loan will expand access to capital for lending to small women-owned and -led enterprises, said James Polan, vice-president of DFC’s office of development credit. The partners with the private sector to finance solutions and invest across sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology. With the May 2023 equity investment, Warburg now holds a controlling stake in Vistaar. Vistaar has more than 40,000 customers. Its average ticket size is about Rs 10 lakh and it covers business and housing loans.