Venture debt as asset class coming of age in India

When Singapore’s state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings forked out $45 million about three years ago to buy Mumbai-based venture lender SVB India Finance Pvt. Ltd, it unwittingly opened the doors to a gold rush in India’s venture debt market. As many as eight firms, including Temasek’s Innoven Capital (the rechristened SVB India Finance), now criss-cross a market that until recently barely existed.