British International Investment

British International Investment is a development finance institution and impact investor based in London, established in 1948 and wholly owned by the UK Government. The organization aims to foster economic growth in Africa and South Asia by supporting the development of businesses and job creation. It provides various forms of financial assistance, including debt, equity capital, and mezzanine financing, both directly and through intermediaries. The firm targets multiple sectors, including distribution, education, consulting, logistics, electronics, and healthcare, to promote sustainable development and economic resilience in the regions it serves.

Samir Abhyankar

Managing Director, Head of Financial Services Group and Member of the Investment and Executive Committee

Ross Coull

Investment Manager

Leandro Cuccioli

Director and Head of Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Forestry

Hayley Fenton

Investment Associate, Infrastructure - Energy Access and Efficiency

Jo Fry

Investment Director and Head of Intermediated Financial services

Diana Kolar

Investment Manager, Innovative Finance

Maria Largey

Managing Director, Chief Impact Officer and Member of the Investment and Executive Committee

Stephen Priestley

Managing Director, Financial Services Group

Sherine Shohdy

Head of Egypt Office and Coverage Director

Abhinav Sinha

Managing Director

Past deals in Indian Ocean

Wysa

Series B in 2022
Wysa, operating under Touchkin eServices Pvt. Ltd., is focused on delivering proactive behavioral health support, particularly for individuals with chronic illnesses and depression. The company utilizes a mobile application that leverages passive sensor data from users' smartphones to monitor behavioral changes indicative of health issues. By analyzing data related to mobility, activity, sleep, and social interactions, Wysa aims to provide context-sensitive, multilingual chatbot support and alerts for healthcare providers when unexpected changes occur. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Wysa serves a diverse clientele, including healthcare firms, senior living communities, and mental health organizations, and is part of the Swiss Re global insurtech accelerator.

EV Co

Funding Round in 2022
EV Co. provides four-wheeler electric passenger vehicle services.

Shubham

Venture Round in 2022
Shubham Housing Development Finance Company Private Limited, established in 2010 and based in Gurugram, India, specializes in providing housing finance solutions tailored for families with informal incomes. The company focuses on offering home loans, home improvement loans, and loans against property to customers who often do not qualify for traditional financing options. Shubham aims to empower urban low-income families by employing an interview-based approach to underwriting, which allows for a better understanding of the customer's unique financial circumstances. This method enables the company to offer customized and affordable credit programs that cater to the specific housing needs of individuals and families in urban and semi-urban areas.

WeRize

Series B in 2022
* At WeRize, we are creating a new category in Indian financial services space. We are building, India’s first socially distributed full stack financial services platform for families in small town India. The financial needs of these customers have been largely ignored by traditional players and even fintechs who primarily focus on millennials in urban India * WeRize is a full-stack provider, both manufacturing and distributing a wide portfolio of customized credit, group insurance, and savings products for 100Mn lower-middle-class families and 300Mn individuals spread across the 4000+ towns . This $200 Billion annual market expects a very different product set as well as distribution model which traditional private banks, insurers, and mutual fund companies are unable to provide. The economics of these products as well as operating in small cities for traditional companies is unfeasible due to their high-cost branch-based distribution model. * Families living in small towns across India require high touch sales/after-sales service which can only be profitably provided using a social distribution model. The entire Indian fintech ecosystem is geared towards building do-it-yourself (DIY) apps that help customers choose the right financial products for themselves. However, this approach doesn’t work for small-town Indian families as there is a huge trust deficit about non-government financial products. Using the “Social Shopify of Finance” Tech platform, WeRize has enabled thousands of financially literate and digitally savvy freelancers in 1000+ cities to sell its financial products in their social circle. This solves both the trust issue as well as provides high-touch sales and after-sales services these customers need. The technology platform provided to these partners enables them to source business online and offline, recommend the right product to their customers as well as provide after-sales support.
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