Aye Finance, the CapitalG backed fintech lender, has raised $10 million in debt funding from leading global impact investment manager, responsAbility and Northern Arc, which lends to impact focus companies, through the issuance of Non-Convertible Debentures. With this latest funds raised, Aye is gearing up to bolster its lending portfolio and offer affordable business loans to a larger number of microenterprises in India. 

Micro enterprises are at the bottom of the MSME hierarchy of businesses and Aye’s mission is linked to raising this financially excluded sector and bringing it into the folds of organized finance.  The MSME lender has designed its acquisition and credit assessment processes that mirrors the comfort of the micro entrepreneur, and is fast emerging as the leader in micro lending space having disbursed over Rs 1250 Crores to over 1,00,000 customers.  

Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director of Aye Finance said, “I believe the market need being addressed by us is very large, and having enabled the inclusion of over 100,000 micro entrepreneurs, we have established that our unique Cluster Based Credit Assessment methodology has the capability to scale up rapidly while delivering good value to our customers. And despite the bearish sentiments in the market, we have continued to get support from the industry in our mission to transform micro enterprise lending in India, as we continue to demonstrate robust metrics on growth and quality.”

Jaskirat S. Chadha, Senior Investment Officer at responsAbility, said, “responsAbility-managed funds have been providing funding for financial institutions targeting micro, small and medium-sized enterprises for the past 15 years. We are pleased to partner with Aye Finance, a successful player that leverages its technology backbone to drive financial inclusion and promote economic growth of un-organized business enterprises.”

Dr Kshama Fernandes, Chief Executive Officer of Northern Arc Capital said “The MSME sector is a key and crucial growth driver of the Indian economy and a significant financing opportunity for specialized lenders like Aye Finance, that possess a deep understanding of the businesses it serves as well as their financing needs.  Northern Arc’s association with Aye Finance goes back over 4 years, during which time we have worked together on various domestic and offshore transactions with the sole aim of catalysing growth in this under served and important sector. We are pleased to have partnered with responsAbility on this important transaction and look forward to continuing to partner with Aye Finance on its exciting journey.”

Aye was founded by Sanjay Sharma and Vikram Jetley and operates through 104 Branches spread across 11 Northern, Central and Southern States. Along with enabling the micro businesses through its credit solutions, the lender is also empowering them through its digital bookkeeping App and advisory services to help them run their businesses efficiently. The venture is equity funded by four reputed Venture Capital Funds – SAIF Partners, CapitalG, Accion International and LGT.  

Since its inception in 2014 Aye Finance has been successfully disrupting the status quo in MSME lending while setting new standards in building a quality loans portfolio in an inclusive manner.