SKS Microfinance (Abridged)

Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, seeks a venture capital investment to fund his firm. SKS, one of the largest and fastest growing microfinance institutions in India, is a profitable, for-profit institution with a social mission. In what is one of the first commercial financing deals in the world, Akula must decide at what value to sell equity in SKS and to whom to sell it. The case focuses on valuation, which is difficult because at the time there are no publicly traded comparable companies, as well as the strategic aspects of raising money.