The alternative-financing fintech platform aims to back 400+ businesses by 2025 with non-dilutive capital; Announces partnership with diversity-focused network Encubay
Karun Arya, Chief Growth Officer, GetVantage
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, March 9, 2024: GetVantage, India’s leading alternative-financing fintech platform, announced the launch of its Rise-Up Fund, dedicated to supporting women entrepreneurs businesses with inclusive capital. This non-dilutive fund is with an initial corpus of INR 100 crore.
The fund aims to deploy the capital in the next 12 months to help over 400 women-led businesses scale up. GetVantage will disburse the funds through its own NBFC GetGrowth Capital, along with Varanium’s Debt Fund partnership, among other NBFCs and AIFs.
Since its inception in 2019, GetVantage has been committed to eradicating friction and bias from fundraising. Over the last three years, the GetVantage platform helped hundreds of women founders with on-demand access to fair and reliable financing. Today, over 40% of the businesses across 20+ sectors in the GetVantage portfolio (of 800+ businesses) are led by inspiring women entrepreneurs including Capsul by Bhavisha & Meenakshi, Open Secret by Ahana Gautam, Samosa Singh by Nidhi Singh, Hyugalife by Avni Shah, Ziniosa by Ashri Jaiswal, MyMuse by Anushka Gupta, EatBetter by Mridula Kanoria, The Ayurveda Co by Shreedha Singh, Noto by Ashni Shah, The Indus Valley by Madhumitha Udaykumar, Sweet Karam Coffee by Nalini Parthiban and many more.
According to analysis and data by the World Economic Forum and International Finance Corporation (IFC), women-led businesses in India faced an unmet credit gap of more than $11.4bn, and these same women founders received only 5.2% of the outstanding credit granted to enterprises by Indian public sector banks.
A report released this week by Encubay, found that of 799 funding deals worth $6.6 billion over the last nine months, ventures with female founders raised only 4.5% of the total funding. “Despite running successful businesses, women entrepreneurs everywhere remain chronically underrepresented and underserved by the incumbent venture finance infrastructure. The Rise-Up fund by GetVantage expands our commitment to empowering women entrepreneurs in India,” said Karun Arya, Chief Growth Officer, GetVantage. “Encubay, with their extensive network of female founders, are a strategic long-term partner with whom we share a common mission to provide more women in business with fair, inclusive, and unbiased access to non-dilutive funding to realize their scaling ambitions."
Speaking on the occasion, Deeksha Ahuja, Founder, Encubay said, “Of 799 funding deals amounting to $6.6 billion in the past nine months, ventures led by female founders secured only 4.5% of the total funding. With an increasing number of women venturing into entrepreneurship and many seeking funding for their initiatives, the present moment presents a pivotal opportunity for collective action. Collaborating with GetVantage, we are enthusiastic to help lead the effort to dismantle barriers and level the playing field for women entrepreneurs across India.” Meher Taff, co-Founder, natch snacks, said, “GetVantage came through for our business when traditional lenders overlooked us. Not only did their funds allow us to extend our runway until our next fundraise, it allowed us to focus on what is most important - growing our team and scaling our brand. Initiatives like this are important to help bridge critical funding gaps in the ecosystem for entrepreneurs regardless of gender.”
Richa Pendake, Founder & CEO, Nutrizoe, shares, “As a woman entrepreneur deeply immersed in the startup ecosystem, this is more than just about funding; it's about recognizing and amplifying the voices and potential of women in entrepreneurship. I've experienced the uphill battle of securing funding and navigating the maledominated landscape. GetVantage's commitment to empowering women like myself resonates deeply with me. I firmly believe that initiatives like this not only bridge the funding gap but also foster a more inclusive and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem, ultimately driving innovation and progress.” Women-founded businesses comprise only 18% of the Indian startup ecosystem. Despite that, India has 17 Unicorns with women-led businesses in the country, with a valuation of $30 bn+ with another 20 in-making. While there has been trailblazing work, and a renewed focus by policy-makers too with various schemes floated by state governments and with the help of startupindia, the Women Entrepreneurship Program (WEP) by Niti Aayog, more needs to be done.
GetVantage is serving as a catalyst bringing the community and stakeholders together to foster a favorable and equitable environment for women founders and small business owners to unlock their potential. GetVantage previously partnered with exclusive women’s community leap.club in 2023 to drive greater engagement amongst women entrepreneurs across India. The partnership brought women founders, investors, and enablers together via community outreach helping forge strong connections, conversations, and growth. In January, GetVantage announced its SaaS Accelerator Fund II with a corpus of INR 250 crore.
