FinReach Strengthens Risk-Tech Platform with ₹21.9 Cr Infusion Led by Colossa Ventures

FinReach Solutions, India’s pioneering private-sector credit guarantee facilitation services provider, has raised ₹21.9 Cr in fresh funding. The round was led by Colossa Ventures and existing impact investors Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Omidyar Network Fund Inc and Caspian SME Impact Fund IV.

This latest capital infusion builds on FinReach’s ₹32.5 crore previously raised from its existing investors.

FinReach facilitates India’s first privately led Credit Guarantee Program, designed to unlock lending for micro, small, women-led, agri and climate-focused enterprises. By connecting eligible guarantors with lenders, FinReach reduces credit risk for lenders—making it easier for viable small businesses to access affordable finance and grow. The company leverages its proprietary, technology-driven analytics platform to assess risk and enable credit access for MSMEs at scale, while optimizing for higher capital efficiency.

The newly raised capital will be used to scale operations and strengthen FinReach’s risk and technology platform, deepening its ability to assess and facilitate guarantees at speed and scale.

Access to credit is a fundamental driver of economic empowerment, said Suvalaxmi Chakraborty, Founder and Managing Director of FinReach. Micro and small enterprises are the heartbeat of India’s local economies. Our mission is to bridge the gap between lenders and unserved & underserved entrepreneurs. This fundraise will help us expand our guarantee facilitation business and enhance our risk & tech stack to make lending more inclusive and efficient.

Ms. Chakraborty brings over 35 years of leadership experience in banking and financial services, including senior roles at ICICI Bank, Barclays Bank, and as CEO of State Bank of Mauritius (India). Her deep industry expertise continues to guide FinReach’s strategy and impact.

Ashu Suyash, Founder & CEO, Colossa Ventures added, 

At Colossa Ventures, we back businesses addressing India’s most critical gaps with scalable, purpose-led innovation. FinReach embodies this mission through its credit analytics and technology-driven credit guarantee platform that expands formal credit access for underserved MSMEs. By de-risking lenders and enabling viable entrepreneurs to secure timely, affordable capital, FinReach is catalysing meaningful economic inclusion. Our investment reflects our conviction in their approach of building the next-generation infrastructure of trust for small business lending in India.”

FinReach has forged strategic partnerships with prominent development finance institutions, such as British International Investment - the UK’s development finance institution & impact investor, as well as global foundations like the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, reflecting strong partner confidence in its mission. Together, these collaborations are paving the way for broader financial inclusion and women’s entrepreneurship across India.

Founded in December 2020, FinReach focuses on Tier-3 to Tier-5 regions—helping micro-entrepreneurs, women-led businesses, and smallholder farmers overcome the lack of collateral that often blocks access to formal credit. So far, FinReach’s programs have positively impacted more than 14,150 individuals, including over 2,050 women borrowers.

By mitigating credit risk and building confidence among lenders, FinReach is not only driving financial inclusion but also fueling entrepreneurship, job creation, and sustainable economic growth across India.

Teacher-as-a-Service Platform CENTA Raises ₹ 20 Crore Led by Colossa Ventures

• Teacher Certification and Teacher-as-a-service platform that works with over 1.7 million teachers from 100+ countries and 100,000+ schools.

Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) has raised INR 20 crore in Series A1 round of funding led by Colossa Ventures with participation from earlier investor Discovery Assets and angel investors. With this fundraise, CENTA expects to scale operations in India and selected international markets, while further enhancing its technology infrastructure.

CENTA is a full stack platform for teachers, focused on teacher certification, teacher upskilling and teacher-as-a-service (TAAS or providing teachers to employers for full-time and part-time requirements). The certification trademark is a globally benchmarked assessment that helps schools and teachers understand and improve their teaching skills, and the CENTA platform connects teachers to career opportunities. The platform hosts 1.7 million teachers from 100,000+ schools. While CENTA’s largest teacher base is currently in India, teachers from 100 other countries are active on the platform with significant participation from UAE, Nigeria, Philippines, Bangladesh and Ghana, and emerging partnerships in the UK and US.

The company is addressing a massive USD 11 billion market opportunity in India alone, with an even larger global potential going forward.

CENTA was founded by Ramya Venkatraman, an alumnus of IIT Delhi (BTech) and IIM Calcutta. She has over 15 years of experience working with McKinsey & Company including as leader of the firm’s Education Practice in the last 5 years. She is a member of the NCTE committee formulating the National Professional Standards for Teachers under the NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 document and recognized among 15 Women Transforming India by NITI Aayog and UN. Priyanka Arya, Director and COO, is an alumnus of IIT Banaras Hindu University (B Tech) and IIM Calcutta. Prior to CENTA, Priyanka worked with management consulting firms like Accenture and Strategic Decisions Group.

Ramya Venkataraman, Founder and CEO, CENTA, said,

This raise has not only given us the fuel needed for growth but also brought on board an investor like Colossa which combines a sharp sense of business growth with a great understanding of the practicalities of building a company. We are also super excited about the continued participation from Discovery Assets and our early angels Koushik Sekhar and Geeta Prakash.

Vandana Rajadhyaksha, Co- founder, Colossa Ventures, commented, “We are delighted to back Ramya Venkataraman, an exceptional, extremely committed and purpose driven founder, who understands the education sector deeply. With minimal teacher acquisition cost and a robust tech-enabled platform, we see CENTA playing a major role in bridging the teacher-student gap, addressing a global teacher shortage of 44 million. We strongly believe that learning outcomes can improve through addressing teacher quality and availability.”

Director and COO Priyanka Arya, CENTA, mentioned, “We have built an outstanding community, a strong brand and solid products. With our client base now ramping up, we are expecting exponential growth in the coming 3 to 5 years. Teacher-As-A-Service combines our certification, upskilling and community strength, and aligns with our mission of making teaching aspirational.”

CENTA also runs the International Teaching Professional’s Olympiad (TPO), a globally recognized competition celebrating teaching excellence. CENTA has received several accolades, including ‘Dun & Bradstreet Trailblazer Startup Award, 2024’, ‘Nexus of Good’ award 2024, 'Top 60 social enterprise in Asia’ by National University of Singapore and Development Bank of Singapore, among other recognitions. CENTA is Knowledge Partner to NITI Aayog, through which CENTA Standards were presented to all States.

Colossa Ventures Leads Pre-Series A in E-Mobility Startup Vioma Motors with 10% Stake

Colossa Ventures leads Pre-Series A round in Vioma Motors with a 10% stake

Vioma Motors to deliver an E2W offering an unparalleled range of 400 km

Colossa Ventures LLP, focusses on investing in ‘women-first’ businesses,, leads the Pre-Series A round in Vioma Motors, an e-mobility startup, garnering a 10% stake. BRTSIF, the existing investor, is also expected to participate in this round. 

Vioma Motors has developed an indigenous smart electric two-wheeler offering an unparalleled range of about 400 km on a single charge. This incomparable range is achieved by pioneering a battery technology which can generate charge while riding and contribute it back to the main battery pack, and hence provide superior characteristics compared to commonly used Lithium-ion batteries. Vioma’s two-wheeler with its energy regeneration system has been conceptualised, designed and manufactured indigenously, with low dependence on imports.

Founded in 2020 by an industrious team of Aerospace Engineers Varsha Anoop, Shomick Mohanty, Ummesalma Babuji, and tech-savvy chartered accountant Hozefa Irani, Vioma Motors addresses rising fuel rates and climate upheaval by introducing environmentally friendly, best-in-class E-scooters specifically designed to resolve the charging infrastructure problem in India.

Ashu Suyash, Founder-Colossa Ventures, said, “Varsha and her team have developed the scooter ground-up based on first principles and we are very excited to be part of Vioma’s journey as its revolutionary technology validated by ARAI disrupts the fast-growing EV market. We at Colossa are proud to back tenacious, exceptional women entrepreneurs like Varsha and help them realise their vision and growth ambitions by providing capital, expertise, and market access by leveraging our network and that of our global advisors.”

Varsha Anoop, Co-Founder & CEO of Vioma Motors, said, “Resolving Range anxiety for customers without compromising on safety and economics has been the key motivation for starting up Vioma Motors. The new investment will be utilised towards optimizing the battery pack, completing the homologation process and gearing up for commercial launch”

Shomick Mohanty, Co-Founder & CTO of Vioma Motors, said, “Our product addresses the inefficiencies that affect riding an electric vehicle, not only with our unique battery technology but also through the futuristic design of chassis, our proprietary motor technology, and the suspension energy regeneration system. Since most of the parts would be sourced in India, including the raw material for cells, the two-wheeler will also be affordable.”

The current electric automobile market in India is limited in terms of providing sufficient riding range to meet customers’ needs. This problem is further exacerbated by the lack of charging infrastructure across the country. Recent battery related fire incidents have also become a rising concern. Vioma addresses this with a metal air battery pack, which is much safer and has 5X higher power density compared to Lithium ion.

Having closed its Pre-Series A fund-raise, the Vioma Motors team plans to fast-track its development and launch of the E2W model.

Colossa Ventures LLP is an investments ecosystem aimed at unleashing the power of India’s women economy one venture at a time. Using the power of 3 Cs – capital, capability and confidence, Colossa will look to invest in ‘women-first’ businesses that are disrupting the status quo and shaping the future. Colossa’s vision is to create a 10x difference by investing in the growth stage of purpose led, high quality, fast growing, innovative, women-centric businesses, while creating long term value for investors and building an equally powered sustainable world.

VIOMA MOTORS is an e-mobility startup with the first product being a best-in-class smart electric scooter (E-scooter) specifically designed to address the charging infrastructure problem in India and to solve the challenges of high fuel rates and climate upheaval caused by combustion engines. Vioma hope to help people switch to highly secure, environment-friendly alternatives and bring electric vehicles into India's mainstream culture.

Vioma’s smart E-scooter can generate charge while riding and contribute it to the main battery pack. In the world of EVs, where people are still skeptical about transitioning towards sustainable transportation due to the inconvenient charging systems incorporated in most of the existing clean tech vehicles, Vioma breaks the stereotype and propels the world towards sustainable transportation by pushing the limits of technology and broadening the realm of imagination. Vioma believe that transportation is not just mere movement from point A to point B, but is the constituent experience of the journey.