Kinara Capital completes an equity round of INR 380 crores led by Nuveen

By Joy Dumasia

Kinara Capital, India’s fast-growing MSME FinTech, closed a fresh equity round of INR 380 crores led by Nuveen, a leading global investment manager with over $1.3 trillion of assets under management, with participation from Triple Jump, a Dutch impact-focused investment manager advising the ASN Microkredietfonds. This new equity investment will lead to Kinara’s expansion of products and services to meet the rapidly increasing MSME credit demand in India. Kinara Capital aims to grow by 500% by 2025 with plans to disburse INR 10,000 crores of MSME business loans in three years. 

This round of equity financing for Kinara Capital comes from Nuveen’s Global Impact Fund, which focuses on transformative companies’ impact value chains for low-income consumers and the ASN Microkredietfonds, a listed and regulated Dutch microfinance fund advised by Triple Jump. With this equity round, Kinara Capital gains two new members on its Board of Directors with Nuveen’s Managing Director & Co-Head of Private Equity Impact, Rekha Unnithan, and Nuveen’s Director of Private Equity Impact, Stephen Lee. As shareholders, Nuveen and Triple Jump will support Kinara’s continued growth and development of their best in class ESG and impact management system. 

Kinara offers a fully digital process with its myKinara app and doorstep customer service with 110+ branches serving small business entrepreneurs across 90+ cities in India. With the advanced use of AI/ML, the company’s vernacular-friendly myKinara app can take MSME applicants from loan decision to disbursement within 24-hours. More than 300 sub-sectors across Manufacturing, Trading, and Services MSME sectors can avail of Kinara’s collateral-free business loans in INR 1-30 lakhs.

Hardika Shah, Founder & CEO of Kinara Capital, said: “We at Kinara Capital are immensely thrilled with the dual investment from Nuveen and Triple Jump, who are uniting to support small business entrepreneurs in India, the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This is a true attestation of our sustainable business model and the vast MSME market opportunity ahead of us. This fresh equity round will energize us to scale faster so that we can continue doing what we do best, which is to bring more small business entrepreneurs into the fold of financial inclusion.”

Rekha Unnithan, Managing Director & Co-Head of Private Impact Investing, Nuveen, said: “Nuveen seeks out innovative companies who are transforming economies and solving real-world problems. Kinara Capital and its leadership are par excellence in how they have disrupted small business lending in India. Taking a digital-first approach without compromising on human customer service, Kinara has outclassed others with its ability to address the pain points of MSMEs in India. With a decade worth of proprietary data, Kinara has perfected its qualification processes and turnaround time. We at Nuveen are proud to invest fully in Kinara Capital, and together, we will turn to the next chapter of growth.”

Orsolya Farkas, Equity Manager, Triple Jump, said: “Triple Jump is proud to invest in Kinara Capital which is leading with a sustainable business model and creating a systemic shift in how small business entrepreneurs should be considered and served, especially women entrepreneurs. Impact is core to Kinara’s business, and the company has never wavered from its mission of financial inclusion. We are impressed by Kinara’s genuine commitment towards gender parity both within its organization by leading with a women-majority management team and with its HerVikas program for women entrepreneurs.”