Somaira Khan has been appointed senior vice president of human resources, and Aditya Sarda and Vaibhav Nigam have joined as senior vice presidents of investments. In addition, Prashant Pulipaka and Nikhil Hegde have joined as senior vice presidents of fundraising. This comes days after BlackSoil NBFC raised equity of INR 100 crore from its existing Indian investors and family offices via a rights offering.
BlackSoil offers alternative lending options to growing businesses, financial institutions, NBFCs, and MSMEs across industries.
BlackSoil has disbursed more than Rs 5,000 crore (more than $600 million) across 214 projects as of December 2023. It’s an alternative credit platform with portfolio firms like ideaForge, Upstox, Bluestone, OYO, Udaan, Zetwerk, and Curefoods, has expanded its senior leadership team with five hires to support growth in investment, fundraising, and human resources verticals.
Aditya Sarda and Vaibhav Nigam have joined BlackSoil as senior vice presidents of investments, and Somaira Khan has been appointed senior vice president of human resources.
In addition, Nikhil Hegde and Prashant Pulipaka joined as senior vice presidents of fundraising.
Sarda, who has over 19 years of expertise in investment and strategy, was the chief financial officer at e-commerce roll-up startup 10club and has previously worked for Yes Bank and Citigroup.
Khan has over 15 years of expertise in human resources and has worked with Emirates National Bank of Dubai, among others.
Pulipaka has over 20 years of expertise in investor relations and fundraising, including prominent positions at Edelweiss Alternative Asset and others.
With over 15 years of expertise, Hegde served as True Beacon’s business development head in the GCC and India, as well as the CEO of Small Bus Hospitality.
According to Inc 42, Ankur Bansal, cofounder and director of BlackSoil, stated, “The onboarded professionals, with their extensive experience and established track record in their respective disciplines, will propel our strategic ambitions forward. With their skills, we are confident in our capacity to continue providing value to our investors, stakeholders, and portfolios.”
This comes only days after BlackSoil NBFC raised INR 100 crore in equity from current Indian investors and family offices via a rights offering.
BlackSoil claims to have grown AUM by around 30% YoY in fiscal year 2023. With about a 30% YoY growth in investment, it deployed INR 1650 Cr across 63 deals and exited from around 20 deals.
In April of last year, BlackSoil raised $25 million in investment from a variety of banks, family offices, corporate treasuries, and high-net-worth individuals through its debt instruments.
Previously, in 2022, BlackSoil raised INR 250 crore (about $30 million) in debt finance from family offices, UHNIs/HNIs, and investment institutions to target mid- and growth-stage firms through its lending products.
