La Caspienne partners with Villgro to provide debt to impact startups

Caspian Debt, the lending arm of India-focused impact firm Caspian Impact Investment Adviser, has partnered with Chennai-based social enterprise incubator Villgro to provide debt solutions to business-focused startups. ‘impact.

The partnership aims to make unsecured debt available to social enterprises at industry standard interest rates and help them maintain good credit history, according to a statement.

Caspian Debt will work closely with Villgro during the year to identify start-ups in impact sectors such as health, clean energy, food and agriculture and education, and their provide quick loans at low cost ranging from Rs 10 to 25 lakh. The partnership aims to create a collateral-backed product to help reduce the risk of these unsecured loans.

“Through this partnership with Villgro, we will deliver the first set of debts by the end of the third quarter of 2021. We hope to help start-ups in high-impact sectors to independently access debt, gradually improve their debt limits, and long term. in the future, ”said S Viswanatha Prasad, Managing Director of Caspian Debt.

Villgro’s holding company, Bharat Rohan, an agro-tech startup based in Lucknow, received a loan of Rs 25 lakhs.

Bharat Rohan, the first loan recipient under the partnership, uses unique hyperspectral remote sensing based on drones / drones and artificial intelligence to render precision farming, integrated pest management and agriculture real and viable contractual arrangements.

Caspian Debt offers tailor-made debts to first generation social entrepreneurs, helping them meet their working capital needs. It offers a range of debt products that includes term loans, revolving facilities, invoice / order financing, quasi-equity and risky debt in high-impact sectors such as agro-industry, clean technologies, education and employability, health. Caspian says he has disbursed debts of over Rs 2000 Cr to over 140 companies over the past 7 years.

In May of last year, the debt provider lifted $ 20 million in the form of long-term debt from the American International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), a branch of the US government that funds impact-oriented projects.

Villgro is a technology business incubator (TBI). It supports social enterprises in agriculture, health, clean energy and climate action that have the potential to create large-scale social impact. The company claims to have supported 320 social innovators since its inception in 2001.