British International Investment

Pravega Ventures Fund II

IndiaSouth AsiaCommunications & IT servicesConsumer - other servicesFinancial servicesManufacturing

Pravega Ventures is an early-stage venture capital investor backing highly scalable, tech-enabled businesses in India, particularly in the fintech and enterprise spaces.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

This investment is part of our strategy to (i) support the local entrepreneurial ecosystem in our markets in order to build new businesses which create jobs, and; (ii) provide us access to early-stage companies that have the potential to create transformational and inclusive impact at scale.

Our investment in Pravega Fund II will support the growth of new enterprises which are focussed on financial services and enterprise software for MSMEs. Most of the portfolio companies are expected to be in the B2B segment, enabling economic and job opportunities. This investment will support increased access to financial services for SMEs and unbanked or underbanked individuals.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation (SDG 8.2).
  • Increase the access to financial services for small-scale industrial and other enterprises, including affordable credit (SDG 9.3).

How?

Primary Secondary
  • Economic enabler: Pravega invests in disruptive technology-enabled companies which act as an economic enabler for SMEs or underserved populations.
  • Direct: Employment creation through the growth of portfolio companies.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees of portfolio companies, suppliers (farmers)

Pan-India

Skilled and low-skilled labour

Consumers (Individuals, SMEs)

Pan-India

Middle- and low-income consumers

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration
  • Depth: Variable.
  • Duration: Variable. Both the direct jobs created, and jobs facilitated by investees' platforms, provide a sustained impact.

Contribution/additionality

Contribution/additionality
  • Financial additionality: Our capital will help the fund achieve its viable fund size, increasing the scale of impact.
  • Value additionality: We have provided extensive support across a range of processes including governance, reporting, environmental and social and business integrity. We will continue to support the fund manager with institutionalising these systems and processes

Risk

Execution Risk
  • Relates to the risk that businesses will fail to scale and deliver on the expected impact.

Impact score

Impact score (at point of investment)

The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. You can find out more here.

The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party.

4

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We are supporting the fund manager to further enhance their existing ESMS.

Environmental and social risk

Low

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at [email protected]

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D5599
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    South Asia
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Communications & IT services, Consumer - other services, Financial services, Manufacturing

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    September 2022
    Amount :
    $10m
    Currency of investment :
    INR
    Fund Manager:
    Pravega Ventures
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    India

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit https://www.pravegavc.com/

Investment name Country Region Sector Start date Status
ArtistFirst Technologies Inc. India South Asia Consumer - other services December 2022 Active
Critical Path Technologies Private Limited India South Asia Manufacturing December 2023 Active
Fluid Robotics India South Asia Communications & IT services December 2023 Active
Grayquest Education Finance Pvt Ltd India South Asia Financial services March 2023 Active
Indinvoice Tech Solutions Private Limited India South Asia Financial services March 2023 Active
Mintoak Innovations Private Limited India South Asia Communications & IT services March 2020 Active
RagaAI Inc. India South Asia Communications & IT services December 2022 Active
Zingg Labs Inc. India South Asia Communications & IT services December 2022 Active

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