Saswat Finance raises $2.6m to scale tech-led rural financial services

By Vriti Gothi

Saswat Finance, a rural-focused FinTech platform, raised $2.6 million in a June 2025 pre-series A round led by Ankur Capital. The funding will power its tech-driven expansion across underserved markets through data-led credit, insurance, and advisory services.

Founded in 2022 by banking veterans Arun Tiwari, Indrajyoti Bhattacharjee, and Ravi Ranjan Chaudhary, Saswat Finance is reimagining access to credit and insurance in rural India by building a full-stack, tech-enabled platform tailored to underpenetrated economic segments, starting with the $135 billion dairy industry. With the sector growing at a CAGR of 16% and forecasted to reach $180 billion by 2032, Saswat is tapping into a high-growth market with massive potential for formal financial inclusion.

Saswat’s proprietary platform integrates traditional and alternative data, including milk productivity, cash flow cycles, geolocation data, and socio-economic indicators, to enable precision underwriting, risk assessment, and credit origination. Through its innovative digital infrastructure, the platform supports a wide range of financial products such as asset-backed cattle loans, insurance, and para-veterinary services, all delivered directly to rural customers’ doorsteps.

With over 6,000 customers onboarded and more than INR 55 crore disbursed in loans to date, Saswat is proving that customer-centric, tech-first finance can scale across Bharat’s underserved regions.

The newly raised funds will accelerate Saswat Finance’s mission of delivering customer-centric innovation at scale. Key areas of investment include the enhancement of its technology platform and data analytics backbone, enabling more precise and efficient financial services delivery.

The company plans to deepen its geographic footprint across Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh, while also expanding its network of strategic partnerships with insurers, lenders, and supply chain stakeholders to strengthen distribution and service capabilities across its target markets.

Saswat has built a robust ecosystem through partnerships with leading dairy cooperatives (AMUL, Britannia, Hatsun, Nandini), insurance providers (Iffco Tokio, AIC), and lending institutions (RBL Bank, Shivalik Small Finance Bank, Ambit Finvest). These collaborations extend the reach and relevance of Saswat’s platform to the heart of India’s supply chains.

Looking forward, Saswat plans to introduce embedded credit, livelihood-linked insurance, and climate resilience tools, further embedding financial access into the operational core of rural enterprises.

Arun Tiwari, CEO & Co-Founder of Saswat Finance, said,“In a country where over 65% of the population resides in rural areas, India’s rural economy holds immense potential, however systemic barriers like informal lending, inadequate documentation, and lack of efficient last-mile distribution have ensured that a large financial services opportunity is underserved. Saswat is uniquely positioned at the intersection of fintech, agritech, and insuretech to redefine access to financial services for underpenetrated segments. At Saswat, we blend tech and trust to deliver credit, risk protection, and productivity advisory services directly to customers’ doorsteps.”

Krishnan Neelakantan, Partner at Ankur Capital, said, “When we first met Saswat’s team, we were impressed by the thoroughness of their tech-first approach for enabling financial solutions to markets with large untapped potential, strategically starting with income-generating assets like cattle. With the ongoing digital transformation of the dairy sector and other large supply chains as a tailwind, Saswat is addressing a critical gap in the market by using their tech platform and leveraging alternative data for delivering substantial value at the last mile. We’re excited to back Saswat’s vision to transform financial services for this large economic market.”