Vivriti’s VIRAF secures $20 Million from Austria’s OeEB to expand support for Women and MSMEs

Women's Tabloid News Desk

Vivriti Asset Management has received a $20 million investment from the Development Bank of Austria (OeEB) for its Vivriti India Retail Assets Fund (VIRAF), raising the fund’s capital pool to $165 million. The fund is aiming for a final close of $250 million.

OeEB’s commitment forms part of its broader strategy of impact-focused investment in developing countries, with a particular interest in green finance, SME growth and advancing gender inclusion.

Launched in March 2023 in GIFT City, VIRAF is an asset-backed securitisation (ABS) fund aimed at expanding access to finance for India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and small-ticket retail borrowers. A significant proportion of end-borrowers supported through VIRAF-backed institutions are women.

“OeEB’s capital will directly strengthen our ability to extend funding to high-quality financial institutions that are empowering women and small businesses across India. At VAM, we continue to innovate in structured credit to bridge the country’s credit gap while delivering risk-adjusted returns to investors,” said Vineet Sukumar, Founder and Managing Director of Vivriti Asset Management.

The company said that VIRAF has already disbursed more than $200 million across 25 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), with outreach spanning over 350,000 individual borrowers and more than 100,000 MSME clients. Of these, over 75% are women.

Vivriti plans to invest more than $1 billion in retail ABS over the next decade. VIRAF is part of a broader group of funds managed by Vivriti, which also covers sectors such as energy, logistics, infrastructure, software, services, and finance. The firm has raised around $660 million in commitments across eight different funds.

With the inclusion of OeEB, VIRAF now has backing from several major global institutional investors. These include British International Investment (BII), Calvert Impact, M&G Catalyst, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

“Promoting small and medium-sized enterprises and financial inclusion as well as gender equality are among the focus areas of our strategy 2024–2028. Therefore, we are very pleased to provide additional financing for VIRAF and look forward to contributing to India’s inclusive economic growth,” said Sabine Gaber, Member of the Executive Board at OeEB.