SUMMARY
- Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego founded Jai Kisan in 2017 after leaving their high-paying finance jobs in the U.S.
- Jai Kisan is a Mumbai-based fintech startup that offers financial services to rural individuals and businesses.
- Jai Kisan was featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020 list in the “Finance & Venture Capital” category.
Rural Indian farmers and traders struggle daily to get credit for necessary agricultural produce or equipment. Urban people enjoy the option of installments or EMI while purchasing anything that rural people lack. As a result, farmers are forced to take loans from moneylenders at high interest rates, which makes their financial situation even worse.
Arjun Ahluwalia, a private equity expert, Along with Adriel Maniego, a successful professional from the Philippines with extensive experience in digital banking, identified the economic problems of the Indian rural farmer and came forward to solve them. In 2017, they quit US high-paying finance jobs and moved to an Indian village to start Jai Kisan, a fintech startup Aimed to provide financial services to rural businesses, individuals, and farmers.
The primary goal of Jai Kisan was to create an easy banking solution for rural India’s small business owners and farmers; for this, they launched their application, Bharat Khata, which provides convenient and affordable loan facilities to help their economic development and gives them financial and digital empowerment. Today, Jai Kisan is India’s first full-fledged fintech platform providing fair and transparent credit to farmers.
recently, This rural-focused fintech startup secured an NBFC license, which will open the door for the company to create and deliver tailored financial solutions to farmers and rural businesses.
The company was valued at $14.8 million in FY21, with INR 5.3 crore in total revenue and $35.6 million in total funding. But there was an INR 3.4 crore loss for the business. The company grew significantly as it entered FY22, this was reflected in its valuation, which increased to $187 million, a 4x growth. With a growth of roughly 413% from the previous year, their total revenue increased to INR 27.2 crores. However, the loss increased to INR 21.6 crore despite their funds also increasing to $85.6 million.
In FY23, the company’s valuation remained the same at $187 million, with total revenue rising further to INR 43.81 crore, demonstrating a growth rate of approximately 61% compared to FY22. The total funding remained unchanged at $85.6 million. However, the company’s financial loss deepened to INR 69.50 crore.
In FY24, the company’s valuation continues to be $187 million, and total funding remains at $85.6 million. The company has not yet reported its total revenue and profit or loss for this period.
Jai Kisan aims to expand rural financial l inclusion and expand financial services offerings with its new NBFC license. To provide more specialized loan products to farmers and rural enterprises, Jai Kisan got RBI approval to purchase the majority shares of the NBFC Kushal Innovation Capital. With this license, now they can work with government banks to jointly originate and lend money. Jai Kisan partnered with more than 350 corporates, helped lakhs of rural businesses, assisted 8 lakh farmers, and facilitated disbursal of over Rs 6,000 crore. Supported by financiers like Yara Growth Ventures, which took part in a $50 million fundraising round, Jai Kisan hopes to improve its technicality and extend its reach into the agriculture industry, guaranteeing that more remote businesses and farmers have access.
