Skip to content
Finance — Investing — Business — All about technology.

Shivalik Small Finance Bank Receives INR 100 Crore in Equity Financing, Mainly Guided by SMBC Asia Rising Fund

Emphasis will shift towards creating expansive strategies tailored for India's overlooked micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) and retail sectors, primarily in semi-urban and rural settings.

,   and  Administrator
2 min read
Shivalik Small Finance Bank obtains INR 100 crores through equity funding, primarily driven by SMBC...
Shivalik Small Finance Bank obtains INR 100 crores through equity funding, primarily driven by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, with the primary objective being the creation of expansive solutions tailored for India's burgeoning micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and retail markets, particularly within semr-urban and rural regions.

Shivalik Small Finance Bank Receives INR 100 Crore in Equity Financing, Mainly Guided by SMBC Asia Rising Fund

Shivalik Small Finance Bank (SSFB) has raised a significant sum of ₹100 crore in a funding round led by the SMBC Asia Rising Fund from Japan. The investment, which values the bank at approximately ₹1,200 crore, will be used to strengthen its technology infrastructure, expand its workforce, and develop scalable solutions for India's underserved micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and retail segments, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas.

The SMBC Asia Rising Fund acquired a 4.99% stake in the bank by investing $7 million (around ₹60 crore), demonstrating their commitment to contributing to the growth of the Indian economy. Accel, Quona Capital, Lightspeed, and Sorin Investments also participated in the funding round.

The fresh capital will be instrumental in enhancing SSFB's technology infrastructure and expanding its workforce across key functions such as product development, engineering, and operations. The bank aims to build a digital-first bank serving the needs of underserved MSMEs and retail segments, especially in semi-urban and rural India.

"We are pleased to onboard SMBC Asia Rising Fund as a strategic partner," said Anshul Swami, MD and CEO of Shivalik Small Finance Bank. "This investment will enable us to accelerate our business expansion, improve our capital adequacy ratio, and scale our technology-driven approach for financial inclusion."

Shivalik Small Finance Bank currently serves over 900,000 customers across 79 branches and 114 business correspondent outlets in 11 states. The bank operates on a cloud-native architecture powered by Infosys Finacle Core and Digital Banking Suite.

The bank offers a range of retail and MSME-focused products including savings accounts, fixed deposits, gold loans, overdrafts, digital payment solutions, and insurance partnerships with major providers. As of the financial year 2024, SSFB serves more than nine lakh customers.

Rajeev Kannan, Managing Executive Officer and Head of India Division at SMBC, expressed his commitment to supporting the growth of the Indian economy. "We are excited about our investment in Shivalik Small Finance Bank," he said. "We believe in their mission to simplify financial access for small businesses and emerging consumer segments through a strong digital backbone and a partner-first approach."

With this funding, SSFB aims to strengthen its banking-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings and simplify financial access for small businesses and emerging consumer segments, particularly in semi-urban and rural India. The bank, with over 25 years of legacy initially as an urban cooperative, transitioned to a small finance bank in April 2021 under RBI's voluntary scheme. Currently, it has a business portfolio of over ₹6,000 crore with annual revenues around ₹423 crore.

In summary, the recent funding round will support SSFB’s goals to accelerate business expansion by 35-40%, improve its capital adequacy ratio from 19% to 24%, and scale its technology-driven approach for financial inclusion in India.

Read also:

Related

Latest