U GRO Capital raises $159m from existing, new institutional investors & family offices

By Gloria Mathias

U GRO Capital, a DataTech NBFC focused on MSME lending, has announced that its Board of Directors have approved an equity capital raise of $159 million (INR 1,332.66 crore) through Compulsory Convertible Debentures (CCD) and Warrants. The equity fundraiser is subject to shareholder approval.

U GRO raised this capital through a combination of Compulsory Convertible Debtentures with Warrants, effectively locking in the capital required for both the current year’s growth and next year’s growth.

This capital raise received strong commitment from Samena Capital, one of the Company’s existing private equity investors, which committed INR 500 Crores through Warrants.

In addition to institutional investors like Aregence, some of India’s marquee family offices have committed to CCDs and warrants.

UGRO’s founder, board members, and management team committed INR 16.25 crore in warrants. On August 9, 2023, UGRO’s founder invested his entire first bonus received from the company in buying UGRO’s shares.

Shachindra Nath, Founder and Managing Director of UGRO Capital, said, “The capital raise marks a significant milestone in our journey. We have always wanted to create an Institutionally Owned, Independently Supervised and Professionally Managed FinTech in the listed world so that the opportunity is available to the large universe of Public Market Investors. We believe that we are at a pivotal moment where our potential of being a financial institutional is serving the need of small businesses of India. Today, India needs more financial institutions like ours to fulfil the credit gap of more than 90 Lac crores, and I am thankful to all the investors, lenders, co-lending partners, and, more importantly, all UGROites for making this dream come true.”

This is UGRO Capital’s third capital raise. These successive capital raises reflect UGRO Capital’s unwavering commitment to innovation, growth, and fostering sustainable development in the Indian MSME landscape. This equity capital raise was advised by InCred Capital, the Investment Banking arm of Incred Group.