Samunnati (Samunnati Financial & Intermediation Services Private Limited), a specialised agricultural value chain enabler providing working capital solutions through financial and non-financial solutions, successfully closed Series D fundraise of Rs. 387 crores led by Nuveen, the investment management arm of Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America (TIAA). Existing investors Elevar Equity, responsAbility and Accel Partners also participated in this round of funding. Kotak Investment Banking acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Samunnati for this transaction.
With this round of funding, the total equity raised by Samunnati now stands at 587 crores. The latest funds will be utilized for scaling up the current book size and to expand into newer geographies and agriculture value chain.
Commenting on the investment, Anil Kumar SG, Samunnati’s Promoter and CEO said, “We are pleased to welcome Nuveen to our ever-supporting group of investors. This investment will help to continue with our differentiated offerings and enable agricultural value chains reach a higher equilibrium, thereby allowing markets to work for smallholder farmers. We see a strong potential for alignment between the impact investment arm of Nuveen and Samunnati's focus on providing working capital to value chain players along with aggregation, market linkages & advisory services. We are grateful to all our existing investors for their continued support and confidence in Samunnati’s model.”
Samunnati was founded in 2014 with a vision to enhance the value of all players across the agriculture value chain by providing financial intermediation, market linkages as well as advisory services. Unlike traditional lenders who tend to focus on crop loans or agricultural input loans, Samunnati has built the expertise needed to assess smallholder farmer needs and design appropriate financial products that are not collateralized. The company leverages the relationships between suppliers & buyers to assess risk and enable financial intermediation. It offers customized financial products such as working capital loans to Community-Based Organizations (CBO) and receivable finance to Agri SMEs, respectively. Since its launch, Samunnati has grown to a team of 315 people. It is today present across 14 states, impacting 2 million farmers indirectly.
It is an RBI registered Systematically Important Non-Deposit taking NBFC with disbursements of over INR 1,500 crores since inception and assets under management of over INR 460 crores as on March 2019.
Commenting on the opportunity, Rekha Unnithan, CFA, Impact Investing Portfolio Manager at Nuveen, said Access to financing for agricultural value chains fits with our impact investment thesis of inclusive growth, and we are excited to be partnering with a high-quality management team lead by Anil Kumar. This investment aligns with Nuveen’s impact investment objective to grow purpose-driven financial services institutions that leverage innovative and scalable solutions.”
Commenting on the transaction, Kaushal Shah, Head of Financial Services at Kotak Investment Banking, said, “Successful deal closure in an uncertain and strained market environment highlights the confidence of marquee investor like Nuveen as well as the commitment of the existing investors on the robust and unique business model of Samunnati, ably driven by experienced management team.”
