Working Capital Loans for Social Enterprises — Entrepreneurship

Villgro is an Indian incubator for early-stage social enterprises. It works across climate-smart agriculture, healthcare, climate action, and inclusive livelihoods and entrepreneurship.

This program is Villgro’s debt route, run with Caspian Debt, a B-Corp certified lender. It puts small loans into enterprises that already earn revenue but have no assets to pledge and no borrowing record to show a bank.

The money is a loan, so it is repaid; the enterprise gives up no equity. Villgro states the program exists to open up debt funding and to help enterprises build a strong credit history. It has been listed among Villgro’s current programs since 2023, and the program page currently shows applications as closed.

Benefits & funding

A collateral-free loan — no assets are pledged as security.
Non-dilutive capital: the founders give up no equity.
Fast-tracked diligence and disbursal, as stated by Villgro.
A repayment record with a licensed lender, which Villgro presents as the way to build credit history for later, larger borrowing.
Access to Villgro’s expertise, support and networks alongside the loan.
Loans are available up to INR 5 million, at 15–17% interest, with tenure up to 18 months.

Eligibility

The applicant is an enterprise, not an individual; a founder applies on behalf of a registered organisation.
The enterprise must work in climate action, agriculture, healthcare, or gender inclusion.
It must be at revenue and growth stage; pre-revenue ventures fall outside the stated brief.
The application portal accepts both for-profit companies (Private Limited) and non-profits (Society, Trust, or Section 25 company).
Villgro is based in India and the lending partner is an Indian lender, so the route assumes an Indian operating footprint. The portal asks whether the enterprise operates in India; the program page states no formal registration rule.
No nationality, residency, age, gender or degree requirement is stated.

Can you apply?

Open to all applicants

No nationality, residency, education, or experience limits are listed.

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Application process

1
Open the program page and read the application status shown above the description; it is the only place the current window is published.
2
When the window is open, follow the Apply link, which leads to Villgro’s incubation application portal.
3
Register an account on the portal, or log in with an existing one.
4
Complete the enterprise profile: country, entity type (for-profit or non-profit), whether the enterprise operates in India, sector and sub-sector.
5
State who your end beneficiaries are — base of the pyramid, rural or urban poor, or middle and high income — and whether your impact on them is direct or indirect.
6
Villgro screens submissions and puts shortlisted enterprises through a diagnostic panel with industry experts before an incubation agreement is signed.
7
The loan itself is made by Caspian Debt; Villgro states diligence and disbursal on this route are fast-tracked.

Program timeline

Villgro launches the program with Caspian Debt.
2023
Villgro lists it among its current programs.
2023 to present
Current status
The program page shows applications as closed, and no reopening date is published.