Team Startupcity

• Funding led by Ankur Capital to scale rural fintech operations and expand product offerings.
• Leverages alternative data like milk yield and weather patterns to underwrite loans and design rural-focused insurance products.
• Over  Rs 55 crore disbursed through partnerships with Amul, Britannia, IFFCO Tokio, and RBL Bank.

Saswat Finance, a Mumbai-based fintech startup, has raised $2.6 million in a funding round that saw Ankur Capital at the helm, along with follow-on support from Incubate Fund Asia. The new investment will go into its technology platform strengthening, new financial product additions, and expanding its presence across rural pockets in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

Established in 2022 by former bankers Arun Tiwari, Indrajyoti Bhattacharjee, and Ravi Ranjan Chaudhary, Saswat Finance aims to solve ingrained issues in rural financial inclusion nformal lending channels, absence of formal documentation, and dispersed distribution networks.

"This investment enables us to enhance our technology, grow our operations, and expand our rural reach," said CEO Arun Tiwari. "Saswat sits at the intersection of fintech, agritech, and insuretech enabling financial inclusion for under-served communities."

Beginning with the dairy value chain, Saswat leverages traditional and alternative data points such as milk production, weather patterns, and geo-location to provide asset-backed loans underwriting and insurance products tailored to smallholder farmers and rural micro-entrepreneurs.

As of now, the startup has issued loans totaling over  Rs 55 crore and serviced over 6,000 rural customers. Its range of products consists of cattle loans, insurance, and para-veterinary services, and it is expanding to newer credit products for rural businesses as well.

To enhance last-mile reach, Saswat has allied with leading dairy cooperatives such as Amul, Britannia, Nandini, and Hatsun; insurance companies like IFFCO Tokio and Agriculture Insurance Company; and banks such as RBL Bank and Shivalik Small Finance Bank.

"Saswat is filling a vital market need through its technology-driven model and judicious deployment of alternative data, unlocking genuine value in rural India," said Krishnan Neelakantan, Partner at Ankur Capital.