Blume and Arkam Ventures-backed Jai Kisan acquires Kushal Finnovation, gains NBFC licence

Co-founders Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego

Rural-focussed agri-fintech startup Jai Kisan has acquired a majority stake in Kushal Finnovation Capital Private Limited, a non-banking finance company (NBFC).

The acquisition will allow the Mumbai-based lending startup to leverage Kushal’s licence to offer loans directly to customers alongside co-lending partnerships with other financial institutions.

“The NBFC allows us to cater to our farmer and rural business customers with the credit products they want, how they want them, when they want them, and where they want them—which is what they deserve,” founder Arjun Ahluwalia said on August 12. The company didn't share the details of the deal.

Founded in 2017 by Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, Jai Kisan provides supply-chain financing services to rural businesses and offers buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) options on crop inputs and equipment through its app, Bharat Khata.

The company claims to work with more than 350 corporate partners, 100,000 rural businesses, 800,000 rural individuals and farmers and about 15 large financial institutions to offer these services.

Jai Kisan says it has facilitated loans worth more than Rs 6,000 crore since its inception, with Rs 3,000 crore in FY24 alone.

The platform raised its last funding round (Series B), a mix of equity and debt, totalling Rs 390 crore in July 2022 from new investors GMO Venture Partners, Yara Growth Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures. Existing investors Blume Ventures, Arkam Ventures, Mirae Asset and Snow Leopard Ventures also participated in the round.

It also raised debt funding from investors such as Northern Arc, Alteria, and MAS Financial.

The startup recently strengthened its advisory board with the appointment of senior bankers including Arvind Kathpalia, former group president and chief risk officer at Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Ravi Duvvuru, former president and chief compliance officer at Jana Small Finance Bank.

“Jai Kisan is operating in a large untapped opportunity and having a licence in hand is a very strong lever for the kind of growth we believe the market allows for,” Rahul Chandra, Managing Director of Arkam Ventures, said. It can now scale faster within the regulatory framework that the licence provides, enabling it to operate as a player who can access more credit directly and disburse faster to its rural customers,” he said.