MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Hivos-Triodos Fund (HTF) Loans $3.1m to India’s IntelleGrow for Loans to Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises

The Hivos-Triodos Fund (HTF), a Netherlands-based microfinance investment vehicle, recently loaned EUR 2.5 million (USD 3.1 million) to IntelleGrow, an Indian nonbank financial company that specializes in making loans to small and medium-sized “social enterprises” in the agriculture, clean energy, education, financial, healthcare, sanitation and water sectors. Historically IntelleGrow has provided financing within 40 to 50 days of application from businesses that do not have access to traditional, collateral-based loans.

According to Willem Enklaar, the fund manager for HTF, “IntelleGrow fits perfectly as an extension to Hivos-Triodos Fund’s goal to catalyze growth in selected high impact sectors, specifically in agriculture and renewable energy. We look forward to enable further growth of IntelleGrow with our loan, which makes us IntelleGrow’s first international lender.”

According to the US-based Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), as of 2014 HTF has total assets of EUR 91 million (USD 114 million), of which EUR 87 million (USD 109 million) is allocated to 43 active microfinance investments. Since its inception in 2012, IntelleGrow has disbursed approximately 60 loans totaling INR 600 million (USD 9.8 million) to SMEs operating in the agriculture, clean energy, education, financial, healthcare, sanitation and water sectors. IntelleGrow is a unit of Intellecap, an Indian consultancy.

By Ananya Tiwari, Research Associate

About Hivos-Triodos Fund (HTF)
The Hivos-Triodos Fund (HTF) is a microfinance investment vehicle that was created in 1994 through a joint partnership between Triodos Bank, a private bank in the Netherlands that seeks to prioritize investing in socially responsible investment, and the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos), a non-government organization (NGO) also based in the Netherlands. According to the US-based Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), as of 2014 HTF has total assets of EUR 91 million (USD 114 million), of which EUR 87 million (USD 109 million) is allocated to 43 active microfinance investments.

About IntelleGrow
IntelleGrow is a nonbank financial company (NBFC) based in the city of Mumbai, India. It was founded in 2012 by Indian consultancy firm Intellecap Capital Advisory Services with support from Shell Foundation, a UK-based charity promoting social investment that was founded by energy firm Royal Dutch Shell. IntelleGrow offers debt financing, technical assistance and training to rapidly-growing, early stage, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have a track record of at least 12 months of operations and revenues less than INR 500 million (USD 8.1 million). Since its inception, IntelleGrow has disbursed approximately 60 loans totaling INR 600 million (USD 9.8 million) targeting SMEs operating in the energy, agriculture supply chain, sanitation, healthcare, education and financial inclusion sectors.

Sources and Additional Resources

[1] Triodos Investment Management, http://www.triodos.com/en/investment-management/who-we-are/news/newsletter-emerging-markets/hivos-triodos-funds-firstinternational-lender/

MicroCapital, March 11, 2014, “India’s IntelleGrow Completes Second Round of Financing, Raising $4.6m from Omidyar Network, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-indias-intellegrow-completes-second-round-of-financing-raising-4-6m-from-omidyar-network-michael-and-susan-dell-foundation/

MicroCapital, April 7, 2010, “Investment Firms Matrix Partners India, Hivos-Triodos Fonds and Lok Capital LLC Invest $26.5m in Indian BASIX Microfinance Institution Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (BSFL)”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-investment-firms-matrix-partners-india-hivos-triodos-fonds-and-lok-capital-llc-invest-265m-in-indian-basix-microfinance-institution-bhartiya-samruddhi-finance-limited-bsfl/

MicroCapital, October 18, 2009, “Hivos-Triodos Fund Makes Debt Investment of $2m in Honduran ODEF Financiera” https://www.microcapital.org/microcapitalorg-story-hivos-triodos-fund-makes-debt-investment-of-2m-in-honduran-odef-financiera/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Triodos, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Triodos+Investment+Management

MicroCapital Universe Profile: Intellecap, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Intellecap

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