Avanti Finance, a tech-enabled non-banking finance firm, said it has raised $24 million from Rabo Partnerships and IDH Farmfit Fund, among others.

While Rabo Partnerships, a completely owned subsidiary of the Dutch bank Rabobank Group, is focused on financial inclusion and rural development, IDH Farmfit Fund, an impact fund, is focused on smallholder farmers.

Returning investors in the funding round included Oikocredit and Nandan Nilekani’s family office NRJN Trust. The funding is in line with Rabo Partnerships’ focus on providing data-driven finance solutions to smallholder farmers through local cooperatives and service providers.

“This investment will support ongoing investments in our deep tech platform to develop fit for purpose hyperlocal credit products, automated data and social signals driven underwriting for data-dark customers, amplify our partnership network and accelerate co-lending programmes,” Rahul Gupta, CEO of Avanti Finance, stated.

Gupta said Avanti Finance has served 2,75,000 households, disbursed over Rs 1,300 crore. It has a team of 65 employees. “We are now ready to take the leap towards 1.5 million served households with a targeted AUM of over 2,500 crore in the next 24 months,” he added.

“Due to the large number of farmers, the digital infrastructure and the ICT talent available, the Indian market is the ideal place to test and scale innovative solutions for food transition and creating a more inclusive society. This investment supports our strategy of promoting data-driven finance solutions through local cooperatives and service providers, which is close to our roots as a cooperative bank," Marianne Schoemaker, CEO, Rabo Partnerships, Rabobank said.

IDH Farmfit Fund investment director Miguel Tamayo Maertens stated the investment supports the fund's strategy to invest in innovative and impactful solutions that are enabling the access to finance and connected services to smallholder farmers to improve livelihoods.

IDH Farmfit Fund is a €100 million impact investment fund, aimed at enabling increased access to affordable finance for smallholders and is facilitated by IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative, and supported by a coalition of partners including commercial banks, development banks, government bodies and value chain companies.

Established in 2016 by former chairman of Tata Sons Ratan Tata, Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani and economist Vijay Kelkar, Avanti Finance has over 180 customised loan products to cater to different types of livelihood streams and income flows.

The firm currently has 75 partners, including social enterprises, financial institutions, business correspondents, agritech players and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) covering 24 states and about 300 districts in India.