Suvidhaa Infoserve raises $7 Million in Series B financing

Mumbai: Suvidhaa Infoserve has raised $7 million in the second round of funding led by International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank. Existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Reliance Venture Asset Management also IFC in this round of financing. Suvidhaa, a retail services aggregator, intends to use the new capital to further enhance its technology platform, broaden its portfolio of consumer service offerings and aggressively expand its market presence in neighborhood stores pan India.

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The company offers railway and air ticketing, mobile recharge and bill payment services in urban, semi-urban and rural locations in India. Since its inception in 2007, Suvidhaa has established more than 25,000 neighborhood stores called 'Suvidhaa Points'. The company plans to expand this network to 100,000 points in the next two years, said Paresh Rajde, Chairman and Managing Director, Suvidhaa.
Suvidhaa could also look at other channels like telcos and banks or B2C services on mobile as well as on the web, said Rajde.

The government of India has also allowed the company to set up around 70,000 community service centres (CSCs) across 4.2 lakh villages in rural India.

"Suvidhaa has proven that it can successfully bring valuable services to the doorstep of today's Indian consumer. The company's rapid growth is also boosting employment throughout the region and infusing substantial capital into the Indian service sector," said Andi Dervishi, who leads IFC's investment in the electronic payment industry.