Brand Story of Kinara Capital

Our country's economic growth is largely dependent on small and medium-sized businesses. However, they still face major challenges in obtaining financing due to the high interest rates charged them by financial institutions. Even SMEs apply for loans in many cases, their main problem is a lack collateral. Kinara Capital was founded by Hardika Shah in 2011 to solve this problem. The company provides no-property-collateral loans to small businesses in the manufacturing and trading sectors in India, thus empowering entrepreneurs in realizing their dreams.

Hardika's father was an academic, but her mother had always been entrepreneurial and owned a few small businesses. She witnessed firsthand the struggles of her mother, and others who struggled to accumulate capital to grow their businesses. Hardika Shah said, "I saw the gap between microfinance capital and commercial capital."

Motivated to resolve this issue in some way, she started building risk-assessment methodologies while she was pursuing an MBA from a joint program with Columbia Business School and UC-Berkeley's Haas School of Business. After the success of her pilot, she launched a fully-fledged program for small Indian businesses seeking financing below Rs 10 lakh.

Kinara Capital is a brand of Visage Holdings & Finance Private Limited (NBFC). It is a social business based in Bangalore that aims to make a systematic social impact through supporting small businesses in India. Kinara offers loans from Rs.1 to Rs.10 lakhs to small and micro enterprises with less than Rs. Kinara provides microfinance and capital to fill the gap between commercial capital and microfinance. Kinara is present in multiple states of South, West, and Central India. They have ambitious plans to reach the missing middle throughout the country.

Since 2016, Dvara Solutions has worked with Kinara Capital. Kinara Capital is Dvara Solutions' first client outside of the Dvara group. Dvara Solutions implemented all of its technology products at Kinara. This enabled the company to automate the entire business process, including lead management, credit underwriting and credit scoring, loan booking, documentation, collection, analytics, audit management, and disbursements. Kinara has become a leading provider of business loans and transformed its business process to automate seamlessly.

Kinara Capital, a FinTech driving MSME financial inclusion, today announced securing INR 520 million from Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) to promote the advancement of women entrepreneurs in India. The sustainable investment fund will be distributed via Kinara Capital's HerVikas discount loan program to approximately 2500 women-owned small businesses. The partnership between IIX Capital and Kinara Capital will generate an additional income of INR3.2 billion for women entrepreneurs.

"The IIX Women's Livelihood Bond Series investment in our HerVikas program gives new impetus to women entrepreneurs' financial inclusion. Kinara Capital founder and CEO Hardika Shah said that empowerment of women can have a significant impact on improving families' quality of life. Gender parity could add 27% to India’s GDP. "IIX is a pioneer in gender lens investing, and we are honored to be part of its ecosystem to create lasting impact by supporting women entrepreneurs.

Professor Durreen Shahnaz is IIX's CEO, Founder and CEO. "Having invested in Kinara Capital in one of their initial equity rounds, and having seen the company grow steadily, with impact, for almost a decade, it's a great honor to invest again in Kinara Capital from the proceeds the Women's Livelihood Bond series. Women-led enterprises such as Kinara Capital have been leading the charge for COVID-resilience in a time of COVID-19, when investors, governments, and businesses turned inward, leaving behind millions of women who are not being served. They accelerate financial inclusion and empower women entrepreneurs to become part of the solution to economic recovery. IIX's Women's Livelihood Bond Series focuses on valuing women and making sure they are a part the global financial system. We're not done. We'll continue to push the boundaries with the Women's Livelihood Bond Series, so that we can create systemic change that will last a pandemic.

The Women's Livelihood Bond 3 is part of the USD 150 million Women's Livelihood Bond Series (WLB3), a series innovative debt securities that provide sustainable livelihoods for more than 3 million women in developing countries. This program supports women-focused businesses in India, Indonesia and Cambodia that help women rebuild their lives after the COVID-19 epidemic. Kinara Capital was founded by Hardika Shah in 2011. Kinara Capital’s HerVikas discounted loan program is available in 90+ cities across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and UT Puducherry.

Women-owned businesses make up about 20% of India's 60+ million small and medium-sized enterprises. The majority of these businesses remain in the micro-category. Kinara uses data-driven credit decisions to ensure that women business owners are not subject to bias. The FinTech company will also host customer meetings and offer digital workshops that provide useful tips in local languages for women entrepreneurs looking to scale their business.