Sindhuja Microcredit launched in 2018 in India’s mostly rural state of Uttar Pradesh to provide access to capital to traders, shopkeepers and farmers lacking access to affordable, formal financial services. The microfinance institution focuses on women, lending to more than 400,000 female borrowers through a network of 235 local branches in nine states.

Sindhuja secured $14.5 million in an equity round led by impact investors OikoCredit and Gawa Capital to support its goal of reaching 2.5 million borrowers by next year.

Spanish impact investor Gawa Capital invested in Sindhuja via its Huruma Fund, a blended-finance fund meant to catalyze investments for farmers and agri-businesses in emerging markets. Gawa’s Tomás Ribé noted Sindhuja’s role in providing “necessary access to agricultural financing for smallholder farmers, a highly underserved segment in India.”