Bellwether Microfinance Fund

Bellwether was the first domestic pool of capital in India dedicated to providing equity and debt to start-up and early-stage microfinance institutions in India. Our mission with Bellwether, as set by our impact-first shareholders, was to be a market builder and to catalyse microfinance in India.

Our investment objectives consciously blended financial and non-financial goals, and our investors included development finance institutions such as FMO and Hivos-Triodos Fonds, as well as private impact investors such as Gray Ghost Microfinance Fund.

The Fund incubated several start-ups in geographically diverse and un/underserved locations — we made 6 start-up investments, 5 Series A investments, and 1 Series B investment. We were an early investor in some of today's market leaders in microfinance, including a few that have transitioned into small finance banks including Equitas, Ujjivan, and Janalakshmi.

The Fund is now fully exited.