ImpactAlpha, June 14 – Aviom Housing Finance offers affordable housing loans to low-income families in India, many of whom work in the informal and semi-formal sectors and don’t meet most lenders’ mortgage standards. The lending opportunity is enormous: the majority of India’s 1.4 billion people live below the international poverty line.
Aviom’s average loan size is $4,000. It disbursed $61 million last year.
Nuveen led the Delhi-based financial services company’s $30 million Series D round.
Gender smart
Aviom’s Shakti initiative employs more than 3,000 rural women as loan officers. The program provides livelihood opportunities for women “while providing effective customer sourcing for Aviom,” states C4D Partners, an impact investing firm that backed Aviom’s Series B round in 2019.
C4D got a partial exit in the latest deal.
Small business finance
Separately, Indifi Technologies raised $35 million for its digital lending services for India’s small businesses. ICICI Venture led the round. BII, Omidyar Network India and other existing investors participated.
Financial inclusion companies like Aviom and Indifi receive the most impact capital in India.
