Vegafin Capital Secures ₹1,000 Crore Led by Premji Family Office to Build AI Lending Platform

Business lending startup Vegafin Capital Pvt. Ltd has raised ₹1,000 crore ($106 million) in a funding round led by billionaire Azim Premji’s family office. The latest investment marks a continued push by the family office into artificial intelligence-focused firms and expands its existing $15 billion portfolio.

According to a statement released on Wednesday, Vegafin will deploy the capital to build an AI-based lending platform aimed at India's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). As part of the deal, the company has also acquired Gurugram-based fintech Bizloan, which currently operates over 35 branches nationwide and holds a loan book of $25 million.

The funding round also saw participation from Menlo Park-based venture firm Norwest and India-based Lok Capital. The investment underscores growing participation from domestic family offices and angel investors in homegrown AI ventures.

Vegafin is founded by Bijith Bhaskar, a former partner at Premji Invest who spent over two decades at ICICI Bank Ltd working across retail and digital-banking verticals. According to Bhaskar, the company's core ambition is to leverage artificial intelligence and harness data from multiple sources to achieve faster, more granular, and accurate assessments of credit risk for small businesses.

Azim Premji, founder of software services firm Wipro Ltd., holds a net worth of $25.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In June, his family office backed a $27 million funding round in AI verification platform Pramaana Labs. Premji Invest’s broader technology portfolio includes global AI bets such as Databricks, Canva, Spotdraft, and Writer. Within the Indian financial sector, the firm has previously backed entities including wealth management firm Dezerv, fintech lender KreditBee, investment platform Smallcase, and the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.

"This significant funding round highlights the growing intersection of artificial intelligence and financial services in the Indian startup ecosystem. By combining substantial capital injection with strategic acquisitions like Bizloan, Vegafin Capital is positioning itself to address traditional credit gaps for MSMEs through data-driven underwriting. It also reflects a broader trend of institutional investors increasingly backing specialized fintech infrastructure tailored to India's micro and small business sector." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes