March 28th, 2006
Vinod Khosla Makes Microfinance Investment
For a long while now, rumours have floated about Vinod Khosla’s personal interest in the microfinance space. People have speculated as to whether Khosla was raising a fund of his own, offering lines of credit etc etc. The Indian newspaper, Business Standard, today confirmed that Khosla has in fact made an investment, with a couple of other VCs, in one of India’s fastest growing MFIs.
Top Silicon Valley venture capitalist (VC) Vinod Khosla, along with other social venture capitalists, Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) and the SKS borrower community, made a $2.5 million investment in SKS Microfinance today. The deal is the biggest investment in a microfinance institution in the country, a media statement said. SKS will use the money to access commercial debt and increase operations from its current base of 200,000 clients to 700,000 in 2006-07. SKS serves over 3,000 villages spread across five states - Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. It has a portfolio of $18 million and has achieved an annual growth rate of 250 per cent.
Of the $2.5 million investment, Khosla contributed about $450,000, while tech entrepreneurs Ravi Reddy and Sandeep Tungare, co-founders of Vistaar Technologies, and Unitus Equity Fund (UEF) also pitched in with about $450K each. The rest of the money was raised by SKS borrowers and SIDBI.
March 28th, 2006
CIS Private Equity Conference in Moscow
I know Moscow is a long way off for most IPEG members, but if you or any of your colleagues are interested in the private equity space in Russia and/or the former CIS countries, this may well be a good conference to attend. You can find the details for the conference on the IPEG Yahoo Groups website (direct link here). Thanks to IPEG member, Tom Nastas, who is a speaker at this conference, for sending this along.