Jai Kisan provides a variety of financial services products aimed at improving economic opportunities for smallholder farmers and rural SMEs in India. The company is being supported to scale under investor-backed growth initiatives. British International Investment describes its participation as part of a 'VC Scale-up' strategy to support the growth of impactful portfolio companies. BII committed $3.02m in equity to Jai Kisan in January 2023; the investment was executed in INR. BII co-invested alongside a fund manager and relied on the fund manager's environmental and social due diligence. An environmental and social action plan was developed covering application of BII's exclusion list, labour and working conditions, client protection and credit scoring processes, and grievance management. Jai Kisan is described in the article as an Indian rural fintech startup. It announced a $50 million (Rs 390 crore) raise in a combination of equity and debt in the first close of its ongoing Series B. The financing was presented as a mix of equity and debt instruments. Named investors in the first close include Mirae and Blume, alongside other participants. The Series B remains open for additional closes. Jai Kisan provides digital financial services starting with credit for online and offline, income-generating rural commerce transactions. It partners with equipment dealers, agriculture retailers, collection centers and market linkage platforms to provide credit directly to farmers across the agriculture, poultry and dairy value chains. In April the startup launched Bharat Khata, a digital ledger product for rural businesses. The company raised $30 million in a Series A led by Mirae Asset in May. Recently Jai Kisan secured Rs 25 crore in debt from Trifecta Capital and allotted preference shares worth Rs 2.5 crore to the same venture debt firm. Founded by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, the startup is focused on scaling credit and financial products in rural markets. Jai Kisan is a Mumbai-headquartered fintech startup focused on bringing financial services to rural India, where commercial bank penetration is low and many customers lack credit scores. It treats farmers and similar professionals as businesses rather than consumers and developed Bharat Khata, a system that helps individuals and businesses access cheaper financing while ensuring funds are used for agri-inputs, equipment, and other income-generating purposes. Bharat Khata, launched in April last year, captured more than $380 million of annualized GTV run-rate across over 25,000 storefronts by the financial year ended in March. Jai Kisan has financed over 15% of those transactions and said that visibility into high-quality commerce has enabled it to scale business by over 50% in three months. The startup currently operates in eight Indian states in South India and plans to scale across the country and increase headcount. Historically it relied on banks and other financial institutions to fund credit, but it now intends to finance 20% of loans itself as it expands. Jai Kisan operates a rural fintech full-stack platform that partners with input sellers, equipment dealers, traders and processors to originate small loans to farmers via a B2B2C distribution model. The startup digitally onboards end customers at partner outlets, enabling lenders to offer smaller, lower-cost loans and reducing intermediaries’ mark-ups. In the past six months it has disbursed over ₹500 million (~$6.56M) to more than 5,500 borrowers across 10 states and partnered with three banks and five non-bank financial institutions including Avanti Finance. Jai Kisan plans to use new funding to hire across operations and technology, strengthen its tech platform to attract DFIs and other lenders, and leverage customer data to expand beyond loans into credit, insurance, and savings products. The company also intends to scale geographically within India and eventually to international markets such as the Philippines.

Total raised

$91M

Funding rounds

9

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jan 2023