Ankur Capital, an Indian impact investment fund, has backed three early-stage rural companies - taking a 30% stake in each company, according to The Economic Times. 

The three startups that the Mumbai-based fund is backing are cloud-based farm management systems maker Cropln, home compost solutions firm Daily Dump, and eye-care service provider ERC. The startups have also issued convertible debt to Ankur, the report detailed.

Ankur co-founder and managing partner Rema Subramanian explained: "We will also look to make debt-linked investments. Some early-stage startups, such as producer companies require debt more than equity and we want to issue innovative instruments to widen our investment mandate."

The first fund of Ankur is planning to invest in 20 companies for an average period of five years. For succeeding rounds, the fund will pour in INR2 crore to INR4 crore in each firm. Ankur is looking to achieve a 15% gross return on every investment, The Economic Times reported.