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.

A Little World (ALW) provides financial services in remote areas through the use of mobile phones and biometrics. ALW, in conjunction with its affiliated nonprofit, recently crossed the one million customer threshold. The company also currently has affiliations with 15 banks in India Their main product, ZERO, allows customers to complete a wide range of financial services over the phone while using biometrics to ensure authenticity of the user. It hosts 20,000 customers per day and the company hopes to grow the total customer base to 5 million by the end of the fiscal year. Financial data was not available on the ALW website and the company is not listed on MIX Market, the Microfinance Information eXchange.

The Bellwether Microfinance Fund, established in 2005, is managed by Caspian Advisors. As of December 31, 2007, the fund had 14 active investments totaling USD 15.7m with another USD 4.3m already committed to future investments. All financial data was taken from MIX Market, the Microfinance Information eXchange. The fund invests in debt and equity as well as providing loan guarantees and technical assistance to microfinance institutions (MFIs). The exact nature or size of their investment in ALW was not readily available. To read about Bellwether’s recent investment in Equitas, please read this previous MicroCapital story.

According to the Economic Times, Caspian Advisors also manages the India Financial Inclusion Fund, but no further information on the fund was available on the company’s website. The fund is also not listed on MIX Market, the microfinance information exchange. The fund does not maintain an online presence.

Legatum Ventures, the venture capital arm of Legatum Global Development, in a private equity investor currently focused on opportunities in microfinance. As of May 13, 2008, the group had 5 active microfinance investments totaling USD 59m. All financial data was taken from MIX Market, the Microfinance Information eXchange. Legatum also invested USD 2m in ALW during an earlier round of capital raising. To learn more about the involvement of the Legatum Group in microfinance, please read this previous MicroCapital story.

Intellecap is an advisor, based in India, working in the international development sector. It has undertaken finance and strategy initiatives for the microfinance sector and looks to leverage this experience in other development projects. Intellecap has reported intermediating over USD 60m.  The firm also publishes Microfinance Insights, a bimonthly magazine, and is a content partner for Microfinance Gateway.

By Greg Casey, Research Assistant

Additional Resources:

The Economic Times: “ALW private ltd. closes series B funding

MicroCapital Story, August 25, 2008: “Indian For-profit Equitas Microfinance Raises $12.5 million in Equity Capital from Bellwether Fund, Indian Financial Fund, MicroVentures SPA

MicroCapital Story, October 9 , 2007: “Indian Financial Inclusion Firm, A.Little.World, Offers Mobile Microfinance Banking and Draws Big Investors: Enam Financial and Legatum Capital

MICROCAPITAL Story, September 5, 2008: “WHO’S WHO IN MICROFINANCE: The Legatum Group

A Little World: Home

ALW: ZERO

ALW: Partners

Bellwether Microfinance Fund: Home

Intellecap: Home

Legatum Group: Home

Legatum Global Development: Home

Legatum: Microfinance

MIX Market: Profile for the Bellwether Microfinance Fund

MIX Market: Supply in India

MIX Market: Profile for Legatum Ventures

MIX Market: Profile for Intellecap

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