OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I joins a group of investors supporting India’s leading MSME lending platform Indifi

CX Partners and OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I (the first Finnish global emerging markets impact fund) along with existing investors CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), Omidyar Network, Elevar Equity, and Accel, have invested 19 million US dollars in Series D round of Equity Capital raise for Indifi Technologies, a digital financial services company based in Gurgaon, India. OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund’s investment is 4.9 million US dollars.

India is home to around 63 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and a majority of them face microcredit challenges, making it difficult for them to efficiently manage and meet working capital needs. Indifi operates an online lending platform that offers business loans to MSMEs that have limited access to credit from financial institutions. Indifi offers tailored loans for travel, hotel, e-commerce, restaurant, trading, and retail businesses. The funds raised will be used for serving more customers, identifying additional segments of MSMEs, and towards technology and product development.

Mr. Alok Mittal, CEO & Co-founder, Indifi, said, “Although India is home to numerous MSMEs, most of them lack access to funding. At Indifi, we address this problem by working closely with more than 100 data partners and a few top financial institutions, providing easily accessible loans digitally, and helping businesses grow in their journey. For example, our recent collaboration with Facebook digitally enables MSME players to avail small ticket sized loans to grow their businesses.

Tuomas Virtala, Head of Asset Management at OP Corporate Bank, said, “This investment allows Indifi to expand its services more broadly to the Indian MSME sector that is critical for economic development and employment. We are convinced that Indifi as a forerunner in India will improve the business possibilities of the MSME sector.”

Kuutti Kilpeläinen, Investment Manager, Finnfund, said, “We have long experience with fintech companies, and we see that Indifi fills a market gap. The platform brings together partners and lenders to help previously underserved small businesses access unsecured business loans.”

Manu Sahni, Managing Director, CX Partners, said, “Indifi is filling a critical gap in the Indian lending landscape – to provide loans to small merchants and businesses using technology to bypass constraints of traditional MSME lending by relying on data and integrating with anchor digital ecosystems and financial institutions. Indifi as a marketplace leader is enabling lenders and borrowers to participate and transact seamlessly. Financial services is a focus sector for CX and we see Indifi pushing new horizons in that space. CX is glad to partner with Alok, Siddharth, and the Indifi team, and join their Board in this exciting journey.”

Media enquiries:
OP Financial Group Corporate Communications, viestinta@op.fi, tel. +358 10 252 8719
Valpuri Mäkinen, Communications and Marketing Manager, Finnfund, valpuri.makinen@finnfund.fi, tel. +358 50 3842105
Karishma Chopra, Associate Account Director, Value 360 communications, karishma@value360india.com, +91 8826325905

Other enquiries:
Kuutti Kilpeläinen, Investment Manager, Finnfund, kuutti.kilpelainen@finnfund.fi, tel. +358 44 013 1291

Indifi Technologies
Indifi Technologies is a Gurgaon-based lending platform, enabling debt-financing for small businesses. It aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as the speed and convenience of the loan process. Driven by the idea of expanding access to MSME financing in India, Indifi has emerged as an enabler for start-ups and small businesses seeking seamless access to funding. Indifi expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs. For more details, visit https://www.indifi.com/

OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I
OP Finnfund Global Impact Fund I is the first global emerging markets impact fund in Finland. The fund targets significant positive impacts in addition to financial return. The fund raised a total of EUR 135 million. OP Asset Management Ltd, part of OP Financial Group, one of the largest banking groups in Finland, acts as a portfolio manager for the fund and OP Fund Management Company Ltd acts as an alternative investment fund manager of the fund. Finnfund, a Finnish development financier and impact investor acts as an advisor and anchor investor in the fund.

CX Partners
CX Partners is a India based private equity fund in the Indian mid-market with long track record of delivering returns through cycles and a total asset under management of over USD 630 MM