Aavishkaar Goodwell is a for-profit business development company that provides equity finance and hands-on support to enterprises active in the microfinance sector in India on a socially and commercially sustainable basis. Aavishkaar Goodwell is a joint initiative of the teams behind Dutch social investment firm Goodwell Investments and Aavishkaar India, the world’s first for-profit micro venture capital fund.
Aavishkaar Goodwell aims to improve access to affordable financial services for millions of families in the Base of the Pyramid in order to contribute to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. We do this by developing and scaling up enterprises active in the microfinance sector and integrating them into the mainstream financial sector. Aavishkaar Goodwell aims to realize "benefits of scale": a substantial social impact and an attractive financial return.
Aavishkaar Goodwell started with a first equity fund in 2007: Aavishkaar Goodwell India Microfinance Development Company Ltd (“AGIMDC I”). Both private sector and public sector investors participated in this fund, which had its final closing in 2008 with USD 18.3 mln. AGIMDC I invested in both growth phase as well as start-up microfinance organizations. This fund is near full investment. Aavishkaar Goodwell Microfinance Development Company II (AGIMDC II) is our second equity fund with a target size of USD 80 million and is open to investors.
News Updates
January 12, 2010: Aavishkaar Goodwell has recently concluded its equity investment in Shre Pathrakali Finance for a significant minority stake. Shre Pathrakali Finance Co. Pvt Ltd (SPFCL) is a greenfield MFI operating under the brand name of “Utkarsh” that has commenced its micro-credit operations in September 2009 in Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh – one of the most underserved regions for microcredit.
