SKS Microfinance on Monday announced that it has raised $75 million (Rs 366 crore) from a host of investors including Sandstone Capital, SKS investors, Kismet Capital and SVB India Capital Partners (an affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank).This was the fourth round of fund raising by the Hyderabad-based micro-finance firm. Edelweiss Capital was the advisor to SKS.
SKS has provided micro-loans of Rs 4,729 crore to 3.3 million poor households across 18 states in 50,000 villages and urban slums of India. Its members have maintained a 99% repayment rate. The new equity investment will help SKS expand its reach to 8 million members over the next two years.
Vikram Akula, founder and CEO of SKS Microfinance, said: “The fact that this investment has come during the global economic meltdown is proof of the confidence that investors have in SKS.” In February, it had raised Rs 124 crore from UNITUS, Vinod Khosla, Infocom Ventures, SKS Capital, Sidbi, Tejas Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Yatish Trading, SVB India and Columbia Pacific.Prior to that, it had collected Rs 53 crore in March 2007 and Rs 14 crore in March 2006. Last month, Swadhaar, a Mumbai-based micro-finance institution has raised $3 million from Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Accion and Unit Equity Fund.
