Vistaar Finance to Raise USD 50M in Debt Financing From DFC

livemint.com:

Vistaar Finance was founded in 2010 when MSME lending was not very common in India. The company has developed the MSME financing market as a leader in providing long term loans for this segment that has traditionally been unserved or has had to contend with informal high-cost borrowing.

Vistaar’s financing has enabled over 2,00,000 MSMEs across 12 states in India since inception to enhance their productive capacity and hence incomes. The company’s clear vision to serve small businesses and be one of the important catalysts in India’s drive towards “Make in India" has taken it to strength of over 2,500 employees and AUM of INR ~3,100 cr as of March 2023.

This loan from DFC comes on top of a recent primary equity infusion amounting to ~$36mn from Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth.India has an MSME financing gap of over $230 billion, or 11% of GDP annually, with women-owned and -led enterprises facing disproportionate barriers to accessing finance. DFC’s support is expected to assist Vistaar in expanding its secured MSME lending portfolio in India with an emphasis on serving women-owned and led enterprises and rural MSMEs.Setuka Partners LLP, a boutique advisory firm focused on catalyzing patient capital from international financial institutions for emerging and frontier market enterprises, was the exclusive advisor to this transaction.Speaking on the development, Avijit Saha, CEO of Vistaar said, “We are extremely thankful to the U.S.