Non-banking finance company Veritas Finance on Wednesday (July 5) said it has secured an investment of Rs 1,200 crore led by Multiples Private Equity along with its co-investors, including International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The deal comprises a primary issuance of Rs 400 crore and provides a part exit to early investors, British International Investment (BII), and Lok Capital. Avendus Future Leaders Fund also participated in the transaction and invested Rs 150 crore.
The NBFC proposes to use the fresh capital to enter new markets and strengthen its new product lines, including affordable housing loans. Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to Veritas on this transaction.
The company primarily provides secured small business loans with an average ticket size of Rs 5 lakh. Veritas focuses on the large and underserved MSME financing market across semi-urban and rural geographies. Veritas Founder and CMD D. Arulmany comes with 25-plus years of business-building experience across large franchises, including Cholamandalam Finance and Aptus Housing.
Started in Tamil Nadu, the company has now expanded across eight states and one union territory with more than 285 branches and servicing 115,000-plus customers with assets under management (AUM) of over Rs 3,500 crore as on March 31, 2023.
Arulmany said the fresh capital raised will provide a significant runway for growth, help deepen the company’s existing offerings and expand into the affordable housing space. “We strongly believe these partnerships will further catalyse our mission to serve the underserved,” he said.
Nithya Easwaran, Managing Director of Multiples Alternate Asset Management, said Arulmany, along with his management team, has scaled the business while maintaining quality.
