New Delhi: Impact investment bank Unitus Capital has raised an undisclosed sum from a consortium of investors, led by social venture capital firm Gray Matters Capital, the financial services provider to the base-of-the-pyramid population announced on Tuesday.
The proceeds from the second round of institutional funding will be used by the Bangalore-based investment bank to expand its operations in India and South-East Asia, according to Eric Savage, co-founder and president, Unitus Capital.
"Gray Matters Capital's investment is a landmark event for UC. Bob Pattillo is the most active impact investor globally, and we couldn't be more excited to have GMC join our shareholder group," Savage said.
Gray Matters Capital has participated in the capital raising round through its investment firm First Light Ventures. The latter's investment portfolio in India includes domestic services provider Bababjob.com and mobile payment startup Beam Money.
In 2008, Unitus Capital had raised $5.5 million (Rs 32.8 crore).
It also counts William S. Price, the founding partner of global private equity firm TPG, and Steven Funk, founder and chairman of real estate-focused Grand Marais Investments, among its investor list.
The investment bank, which works across sectors including microfinance, renewable energy and healthcare and education, creates financial structures such as non-convertible debentures, securitization and loan portfolio sales, for companies catering to the poor.
It has raised over $75 million of structure products for microfinance institutions such as SKS Microfinance, Janalakshmi Financial Services and Ujjivan Financial Services.
The investment bank has also advised a number of domestic ventures in raising fresh equity capital, including, Bangalore-based Forus Healthcare, which raised $5 million from Accel Partners and IDG Ventures in April last year.
"Because they are in India, and from India, the team at UC can spend time with entrepreneurs and fund managers... It's the difference between incremental increases and quantum leaps in creativity and performance," Robert Pattillo, founder of Gray Matters Capital said
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