Ugro Capital to raise Rs 340 crore in equity capital

Ugro Capital to raise Rs 340 crore in equity capital

Small businesses focused fintech Ugro Capital on Tuesday said it will raise Rs 340 crore in equity capital through a preferential allotment and qualified institutional placement.

The company said its board approved Rs 240 crore worth of shares to IFU (Investeringsfonden for Udviklingslande), a Danish sustainable development goals investment fund, on a preferential allotment basis.

Another Rs 101 crore will be raised from long-term shareholders like insurance companies, AIFs, and other financial institutions through a qualified institutional placement. It did not say when the money will be raised.

The company has already entered into a definitive investment agreement with IFU, a Denmark government-owned fund offering risk capital to companies in developing countries and emerging markets.

The new fundraising, its second equity capital raising after the first round in 2018, when it had mopped up Rs 900 crore, will primarily be used for onward lending to MSMEs, Ugro Capital vice chairman and managing director Shachindra Nath said.

Ugro began operations in April 2018 through a reverse merger with the publicly traded Chokhani Securities and raised equity capital from the likes of TPG, NewQuest, PAG, ADV Capital, Sameena Capital and some family offices.

Its loan book stood at over Rs 6,000 crore with a monthly disbursement run-rate of Rs 500 crore as of March 2023.