[Funding] SarvaGram secures $10.5 million in a Series B round led by Elevation Capital along

SarvaGram announced today that it has secured $10.5 million in a Series B equity investment round. Elevation Capital (formerly SAIF Partners) led the round. It also saw a pro-rata participation from existing investor Elevar Equity. This marks the second high-profile institutional investment in the startup in just two years of its existence. According to the company, the current round reflects its unique service delivery model. The company aims to use this fund to strengthen the technology platform. It also aims to expand its reach into new geographies and launch new offerings. Further, the company looks forward to tapping into an emerging and highly underserved market opportunity.

About SarvaGram

Veteran rural bankers Utpal Isser and Sameer Mishra founded the startup. SarvaGram attempts to marry the on-ground presence with enabling technology to better identify and serve its target customers. It has developed and deployed proprietary tools. It includes scorecards for various customer segments to automate its lending decision. SarvaGram has an in-depth understanding of rural households’ ground realities. It provides specific insights into their balance sheets and multiple income streams. Consequently, the startup can assess households as cohesive economic units factoring in community dynamics.

Utpal Isser, Co-Founder and CEO of SarvaGram expressed his delight to have two the private equity investors as partners. He also said that they together aim to provide solutions for the emerging middle-classes in rural India. Further, Ms Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity said that there has always been a massive opportunity that rural India presents.

“However, building and scaling distribution in the rural context require a deep understanding of these markets and rural households. It has been great to see how Utpal and Sameer have leveraged their deep experience in rural financial services to design a platform that taps into household-level data and insights and also built a distribution business that has proven robust even through the pandemic.”

Mridul Arora, Managing Director, Elevation Capital said, “Utpal and Sameer bring an intimate understanding of the rural market and the rural customer. The team’s customer-centric ethos, ground-up product thinking and combination of high touch and tech are truly distinctive. We deeply resonate with SarvaGram’s mission to build a household-focused lender catering to the aspirations of rural India and are excited to be partners on their journey.”