MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Bellwether Microfinance Fund Exit Janalakshmi Financial Services of India

Lok Capital, a Mauritius-based venture capital fund; the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, a US-based philanthropic organization that seeks to improve the lives of poor urban residents in India, South Africa and the US; and the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, an Indian investor of equity and in start-up and medium-sized businesses, reportedly have exited their private equity investments in Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI).

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Sell Shares in Ujjivan of India to Lok Capital of Mauritius, Undisclosed Social Investor

Ujjivan, a microfinance institution (MFI) based in Bangalore, India, is currently experiencing a churn of investors.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Microfinance Institution (MFI) Located in India, Raises $10m from Funders Including Tree Line Asia Master Fund (Singapore) Private Limited and Bellwether Microfinance Fund

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a microfinance institution (MFI) located in India, has raised INR 45.8 crore, the equivalent of over USD 10 million, in a second round of funding.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Bellwether Microfinance Fund Invests $480K in Equitas Micro Finance India

In May 2009, Bellwether Microfinance Fund, a private equity fund based in Hyderabad, India, reported a USD 479,600 equity investment in Equitas Micro Finance India, a Chennai based microfinance institution (MFI), to the CGAP Microfinance Dealbook, the monthly report on microfinance market transactions. The deal was denominated in local currency. MicroCapital has reported on a May 2009 USD 3.7 million investment by MicroVentures in Equitas as well as a securitization worth USD 3.0 million in March 2009.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: India’s Ujjivan Increases Equity With Investments By Unitus Equity Fund, Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Sequoia Capital, Lok Capital, India Financial Inclusion Fund and SIDBI

Ujjivan Financial Services, a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI), has completed the fourth round of equity infusion by raising Rs 940 million (USD 18.7 million) making it the fourth highest capitalised MFI in India with total paid up capital and reserves standing at over Rs 1.08 billion (USD 21.5 million) The increase in capital was largely invested by existing shareholders including Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) managed by Elevar Equity L.L.C., Bellwether Microfinance Fund, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, A.W. Holdings and individual investors including promoter & CEO Samit Ghosh. The five new investors in this private placement transaction will include: Sequoia Capital, Lok Capital, Unitus Equity Fund II, India Financial Inclusion Fund and SIDBI.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: A Little World (ALW) of India Closes Series of Financing Totaling $6.3m from Investors including the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, the India Financial Inclusion Fund and Legatum Ventures

A Little World, a technology company based in Mumbia, India, recently finished a round of funding which brought in INR 287m (USD 6.3m). The investors included the Bellwether Microfinance Fund, the India Financial Inclusion Fund and Legatum Ventures. The investments, which were facilitated by Intellecap, are intended to help build ALW’s product portfolio. ALW focuses on using banking technologies to provide low cost financial services to those at the bottom of the economic period.

MICROCAPITAL STORY: Indian For-profit Equitas Microfinance Raises $12.5 million in Equity Capital from Bellwether Fund, Indian Financial Fund, MicroVentures SPA

Indian microlender Equitas Microfinance recently announced it successfully raised RUP 500 million (USD 12.5 million) in additional capital from existing investors Bellwether Microfinance Fund, MVA Ventures (a holding of MicroVentures SPA) and Indian Financial Fund.

Bellwether Microfinance Fund receives USD 2.4 mm from FMO, a Dutch financial institution

Bellwether Microfinance Fund (BW) recently received an investment amounting USD 2.4 mm from Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV (Netherlands Development Finance Company) (‘FMO‘). Bellwether, founded in 2005, is committed to investing in the equity of Microfinance institutions (MFIs) in India. In addition, as of June 2006, Bellwether had total assets of USD 6 mm. Bellewether does report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse, but no other information is publicly available about its financial performance. Founded in 1970, FMO was set up especially to provide financial services to developing countries. Likewise, FMO does report to the MIX, but no financial information about the institutions’ performance is currently available. The partnership between Bellwether and FMO hopes to increase the availability of much needed Equity financing to microfinance institutions throughout India.

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Bellwether Microfinance Fund purchases $1.5 million in Shares from MAS Financial Services in Microfinance Investment

MAS Financial Services Limited of India sold $1.5 million in Common and Preferred Shares to the Bellwether Microfinance Fund. MAS, a non-banking finance company, is downscaling operations to focus on microfinance. Bellwether’s investment is aimed to assist MAS in enlarging its microcredit portfolio, which it hopes to increase to 75% of its total portfolio over the next five years. MAS Financial does not currently report to the MIX Market, and no further financial information is currently available.

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Bellwether Microfinance Fund Sells US$2.4 million in Shares to the Netherlands Development Finance Company

The Bellwether Microfinance Fund is an Equity Fund founded in 1995 in Hyderabad, India. It reported $5 million in assets to MIX Market as of 7/15/05 and currently has investments in six Microfinance Institutions in India. These include MAS Financial, Sonata, Ujjivan, SWAWS, Satin Credit and Arohan.

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Bellwether India-focused Private Equity Microfinance Fund Makes Second Investment of US$274,000 in Arohan Microfinance Services

Bellwether Microfinance Fund purchased shares valued at $274,000 from Arohan Microfinance Services. They also granted $164,400 in convertible debt, which carries the option of being converted to equity.

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Unitus Equity Fund, Bellwether Microfinance Fund and the Dell Foundation Make Microfinance Investment in Indian Ujjivan Financial Services

Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) are financing Ujjivan Financial Services Private Limited, a microfinance institution (MFI) offering microloans to India’s urban poor. With its investment of about $296,000, UEP will gain a 24% ownership stake in Ujjivan. MSDF will possess a 13.8% stake, and the Bellwether Microfinance Fund will continue its support of Ujjivan by taking a 12.6% stake.

Ujjivan reported net current assets of 11,359 thousand rupees ($249,000) as of March 31,2005 and a net loss of 830 thousand rupees ($18,200) for the last quarter. However, it does not report to the MIX Market, the microfinance information clearinghouse. The gaze of the microfinance sector in India is focused on rural India even though the population of urban poor is estimated to equal 106 million, 30% of the total urban population. Ujjivan believes the key difference between the urban and rural populations is lack of time and availability of space, not stability or community affinity, and is tailoring its products to serve the population of around 2 million urban poor in the city of Bangalore. Two driving reasons for borrowing by women in this segment, according to Ujjivan’s market research, are providing family housing and business working capital.

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MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Triodos Fair Share, Triodos Microfinance Funds to Invest Debt, Equity in India’s Janalakshmi, Kazakhstan’s KazMicroFinance, Kyrgyzstan’s Kompanion

Two microfinance investment vehicles managed by a unit of the Netherlands’ Triodos Bank, the Triodos Fair Share Fund (TFSF), and the Triodos Microfinance Fund (TMF), have agreed to invest jointly in the following organizations: (1) Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), a Bangalore-based microfinance institution (MFI) that will borrow USD 11.4 million to expand its financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in India; (2) KazMicroFinance (KMF), which is reportedly the largest MFI in Kazakhstan and will sell the Triodos funds stakes totaling 13.7 percent of the organization’s shares; and (3) Kompanion Financial Group, an MFI in Kyrgyzstan that will sell the funds stakes totaling 17.5 percent of the organization’s shares as it seeks to transform from a community development financial institution into a microfinance bank [1] [2] [3]. Kompanion also sold a 17.5-percent stake to Dutch public-private development bank FMO; Mercy Corps, the founder of Kompanion, is retaining 65-percent ownership of the institution. The prices paid for the equity stakes in KMF and Kompanion have not been released.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital of Mauritius Seeking $100m for Third Fund, First Round Scheduled to Close by April 2015

Lok Capital, a Mauritius-based venture capital fund that focuses on microfinance and other social businesses in India, reportedly is seeking to raise USD 100 million for a new fund that will focus on financial inclusion as its key priority, with agriculture and energy as secondary areas of interest [1].

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: India-based Ujjivan Financial Services Disburses Loans Totaling $166m Via Direct Deposit to Bank Accounts

Ujjivan Financial Services, a Bangalore-based microfinance institution, has disbursed local currency loans totaling the equivalent of USD 166 million, approximately 50 percent of its total loan disbursements this year, directly to customer’s bank accounts.

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Lok Capital Sextuples Investment With Partial Exit from Indian “Socio-commercial” Outsourcing Firm RuralShores

Lok Capital (Lok), a Mauritius-based venture fund focused on the microfinance and social business sectors in India, reportedly has sold part of its equity stake in RuralShores Business Services, an India-based company offering business process outsourcing to public and private clients in the microfinance, banking, insurance, telecom and information technology sectors.