IntelleGrow raises INR 100 million from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Venture debt-financing company deploys new approach to address the INR 900 billion credit gap in the SME sector in India.
Mumbai-based IntelleGrow, a venture debt financing company for small and medium social enterprises, today announced that it has raised INR 100 million in Series A funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. To date, IntelleGrow has disbursed 20 loans totalling INR 150 million to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across India – from sectors such as waste water recycling, clean energy solutions, low cost irrigation, rural healthcare, rural electrification and non-credit financial inclusion among others. IntelleGrow is promoted by Intellecap which has been actively building an eco-system to support the growth of impact focused businesses over the last decade.
Read the full press release, reproduced on the Artha Blog, here.
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Kickstart 30 Social Entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu
Introducing Gijs Spoor, who lives in Auroville and started an interesting venture called UnLtd Tamil Nadu. This organization searches for, selects and supports early stage social entrepreneurs across the state, helping people who commit to solving some of India’s most serious problems use their passion and entrepreneurial skills.
Read more here.
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Investment Opportunites:
MyMela
MyMela creates sustainable international demand for artisans globally through a vibrant, interactive online marketplace, a crowdfunding platform and a robust and diverse retail presence. Traditional artisan communities worldwide lack fair access to the international community of socially conscious shoppers. MyMela curates the best authentic artisan products and presents them to a global audience.
More Investment Opportunities: SpringHealth, Frontier Markets, Kinara Capital
Please see the Artha pipeline for more information.
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2013 India Development Marketplace
The India Development Marketplace will award up to 15 winning projects already working within the target states of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh a grant of USD $50,000. Projects operational in other states and proposing to replicate or scale in target states could receive up to USD $100,000. Read more.
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Village Capital & CIIE partner to launch Tech 4 Impact Accelerator
The new Tech 4 Impact accelerator program is a partnership between Village Capital and the Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). It will focus on for-profit business models in the IT/Mobile, Education, Agri-business, Health and Livelihoods sectors. Companies are being scouted from all over India to participate.
Read more here.
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Sankalp Unconvention Summit 2013
The annual Sankalp Summit is one of Asia’s largest collaborative platforms bringing together a who’s who of social enterprises, impact investors, policy makers, academicians, and other market makers. Initiated in 2009 by Intellecap with the vision of catalysing impact investments into social enterprises globally, the forum today has evolved into a wide community of over 350 social enterprises, 300 investors and 300 sector stakeholders. Artha will be playing a role again this year by sponsoring the Artha-Sankalp Grand Prize for the winning social enterprise, to the tune of USD $40,000. Read more.
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Waste Enterprisers – GreenHeat4
Reinventing fecal sludge as fuel not only provides a safe and sustainable sanitation solution, but it reduces industrial consumption of dirty fossil fuels. Where one finds cities, one finds fecal sludge and industry. This unique Ghanaian business brings the two together. Read more.
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