DMI Raises $40 Mn For Its Fintech-Focussed Sparkle Fund, Plans To Make 20 Investments

DMI Alternatives Pvt Ltd has announced the closure of a $40 Mn fundraise for its fintech focussed “The Sparkle Fund”.

The Sparkle Fund by DMI Alternatives was set up in 2017 to invest in India’s rapidly growing digital finance ecosystem. The fintech fund has so far invested $10 Mn in startups including M2P, Credgenics, Servify, Uni and Mobikwik.

Within the fintech ecosystem, Sparkle focuses on alternative lending, consumer finance, financial-services IT,  payments, regtech, wealthtech and AI-ML platforms to drive automation. 

In a statement, DMI said that Sparkle will continue to make investments across all stages of its portfolio companies, from Pre-Series A to significant growth rounds, and expects to make more than 20 investments.

Sparkle, through its strategic relationship with DMI Finance, gives its portfolio companies access to market and data insights, possibilities for product trials and model refinement. DMI Alternatives is an associate company of DMI Finance.

Founded in 2008 by Shivashish Chatterjee and Yuvraja C. Singh, DMI Group and is a pan-India credit platform with core businesses in digital consumer and MSME finance, housing finance, wholesale finance, and asset management.

In 2020, the Delhi-based financial services company raised $123 Mn in equity funding from NXC Corporation, which is a holding company of the game development and distribution company NEXON. 

The company is backed by global institutional investors, strategic family offices including the Burman family of Dabur India, leading banks, and public market creditors in India.

According to Inc42 Plus, Indian fintech startups have raised close to $2.7 Bn in funding in the third quarter of 2021 alone. Overall, about $5 Bn has been invested in this segment in 2021 across 192 deals.

There are a lot of developments happening in the fintech sector every other day ranging from fundraising to acquisitions. Just today, Tamil Nadu-based M2P Fintech (formerly, YAP) announced its acquisition of SaaS startup Origa AI.

On Wednesday, another fintech startup CredAvenue raised $90 Mn in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital.

Fintech players in the country have also started taking the IPO-route to raise funds. Homegrown players, Paytm, FINO and MobiKwik are expected to hit the public market soon. Paytm has filed a draft red herring prospectus with SEBI seeking nod for a INR 16,600 Cr IPO, while MobiKwik intends to raise INR 1,900 Cr while going public.