Rural-fintech Startup Navadhan Raises USD 5M Led by Prime Venture Partners

Navadhan, a leading rural-fintech startup, has successfully raised 40 Cr (USD 5M) in its Pre-Series A funding round, with Prime Venture Partners taking the lead. Existing investors, Varanium NexGen Fintech Fund, and Gemba Capital also participated in the round, demonstrating their continued confidence in Navadhan's innovative approach.

The newly secured funds will be instrumental in advancing Navadhan's AceN tech platform and expanding its distribution and service delivery model. The AceN tech platform offers end-to-end customer fulfillment, encompassing sourcing, digital enrollments, credit underwriting, servicing, payments, and collections. Currently, the platform has over Rs.300 Cr of lines available from 20 Bank/NBFCs, with AceN facilitating API integrations into their existing systems.

Navadhan's unique alternative underwriting model utilizes data science to assess digital footprints and cash flow surrogates, addressing the challenge of limited income proofs and documents in rural and informal markets. This groundbreaking approach overcomes barriers in predominantly cash-based economies and limited banking track records.

Nitin Agrawal, Founder of Navadhan, expressed excitement about the collaboration with Prime Venture Partners, emphasizing their thoughtful investment approach. He highlighted the company's commitment to a tech-led business model with a revenue-first approach, aiming to create new wealth for rural entrepreneurs.

Navadhan, co-founded by Nitin Agrawal, Vijay Haswani, Anirudh Ramakuru, and Amit Biswal, aims to connect NBFCs/Banks with Small Businesses/Microenterprises (MSMEs) by sourcing and servicing financial services. Nitin Agrawal, with two decades of experience in micro-banking and agri-channel finance, sees digitization as an opportunity to build a tech-led finance platform.

Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner at Prime Venture Partners, acknowledged the credit-starved nature of the MSME sector in India and commended Navadhan for its viable and tech-driven model. He expressed confidence in Navadhan's potential for meaningful scale and growth.

Navadhan had earlier raised USD 3M in Seed and Angel rounds from Anicut Capital, BOPA, Flowstate, Angelist, Faad, Saakav Firstbridge, and angels from the Fintech and Agri-tech space.

Prime Venture Partners, an early-stage VC fund, focuses on category-defining, technology-driven startups. Led by Sanjay Swamy, Shripati Acharya, and Amit Somani, Prime has a track record of investing in successful ventures across various sectors, including fintech, consumer internet, SaaS, electric mobility, healthtech, education, gaming, and logistics. Notable investments include Niyo, KredX, OTO, Knight Fintech, and MyGate, among others.

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