The round also saw participation from early-stage investor Gemba Capital and several angel investors.
White Venture Capital is a fintech-centric fund established by Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau, Jupiter CEO Jitendra Gupta, and angel investor Sweta Rau. While Amrish Rau and Gupta serve as limited partners and advisors to the fund, Sweta Rau is the fund’s general partner.
Finodaya, which was granted its NBFC licence by the Reserve Bank of India on 11 April, plans to offer micro loans against property to small businesses and micro enterprises across India. The company will adopt a phygital model, combining digital infrastructure with a physical branch network, to underwrite and disburse secured credit, cofounder Lokendra Tomar told ET.
The company was founded by former ICICI Bank executives Tomar, Abhitabh Dixit, and Neeraj Biyani. It aims to serve micro and nano enterprises—a segment historically underserved by traditional lenders.
“Many micro and nano enterprises are trapped in cycles of high-cost borrowing from local moneylenders. We aim to break that pattern by providing fair and adequate financing to help them grow. More importantly, we’re enabling their transition into the formal financial system—by offering the right support to strengthen their credit profile, making them ready for the next phase of their growth,” said Tomar.
Discover the stories of your interest
Finodaya plans to open 15 physical branches across Madhya Pradesh over the next six months, targeting loan disbursements of Rs 50–100 crore by next year.Prior to receiving its NBFC licence, Finodaya had secured a business correspondent (BC) arrangement with Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, enabling it to source and service loans on the bank’s behalf.
With its newly acquired regulatory status, the firm is now set to begin disbursements and is also exploring co-lending partnerships with preferred lenders.
The fundraise comes at a time when government-led digitisation initiatives—including the digital mapping of land records and enhancements in public digital infrastructure—are streamlining access to property-backed credit for small businesses.
“We are excited to partner with the Finodaya team in their mission to unlock secured credit for India’s small businesses. Their deep domain expertise, speed of execution, and vision to combine digital infrastructure with local knowledge make them uniquely positioned to build a scalable and trusted NBFC,” said Sweta Rau.
