International Finance Corporation (IFC) a member of the World Bank Group, plans to invest USD 40 million (about Rs 290 crore) in upGrad, an online up-skilling platform and IFC has proposed to loan up to $150 million to Bajaj Finance Ltd.
About investment in upGrad:
- upGrad was founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar and Ravijot Chugh(Promoters) in 2015 by investing over Rs 170 crore.
- Now, the promoters’ holding in the firm came to 75 per cent after the investments of USD 160 million in April 2021 (USD 40 million from IFC and a USD 120 million funding from Singaporean investor Temasek Holdings). The two external investors IFC and Temasek hold the remaining 25 per cent.
- Currently the company is valued at $850 million in turn moving towards a unicorn status.
- Ronnie Screwvala’s UTV was acquired by Disney at an enterprise valuation of USD 1.4 billion in 2013
Note – A unicorn company, or unicorn startup, is a private company with a valuation over $1 billion. As of April 2021, there are more than 600 unicorns around the world.
About the Loan proposal to Bajaj Finance:
- IFC has proposed a senior loan of up to $150 million to Bajaj Finance Ltd. for up to 5 years to enable the company to expand its lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and women owned MSMEs.
- After obtaining the loan, Bajaj Finance plans to increase its lending to MSME segment to about $600 million.
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United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) National Central Cooling Company or Tabreed & IFC are set to invest USD 400 Million (~2900 Crore) in Capital deployment in India & South-East Asian countries for building cooling service infrastructure.
About upGrad:
Establishment – 2015
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD – Mayank Kumar
Executive Chairman – Ronnie Screwvala
About Bajaj Finance:
It is the third largest non-banking finance company (NBFC) in India
Establishment – 1987(Incorporated as Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd)
Headquarters – Pune, Maharashtra
Chairman – Sanjiv Bajaj
About International Finance Corporation (IFC):
Establishment – 1956
MD, Executive Vice President – Makhtar Diop
Headquarters – Washington D.C., USA
