Banking On The Boom: Meet The Top Fintech Investors In India

Gone are the days when financial services were restricted to banks alone. With a massive influx of fintech startups, hundreds of banking and financial services are just a tap away.

India currently hosts more than 4,200 active fintech startups, the growth of which has been attributed to the unprecedented tech boom and the increasing internet and smartphone penetration in the country.

As a result, the homegrown fintech ecosystem has grown both in size and stature. To put things into perspective, the Indian fintech industry is estimated to rise to $2.1 Tn by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% from 2022, according to Inc42’s State Of Indian Fintech Report Q2 2023.

The pomp and show of India’s fintech ecosystem is well-warranted and has caught the attention of both domestic and global investors, and the great Indian fintech story offers a big untapped opportunity for them. 

This has been evident in the fact that the industry has secured $26 Bn in funding since 2014, of which $14.8 Bn were pumped between 2021 and Q2 2023. As a result, India’s fintech ecosystem has minted 22 unicorns, with 33 startups standing in the queue with the soonicorn tag.

The year so far has seen Lendingkart bag $24 Mn in debt funding while Indifi secured $35 Mn, some of the largest fintech deals in the quarter ended June 2023.

While the segment remains investors’ favourite, it has not been left untouched by the vagaries of the funding winter, which dried up funding for the sector by more than 57% YoY to around $800 Mn in Q2 2023, per the latest Inc42 report. 

Despite the setback, experts remain bullish on the future of fintech funding. Given the potential of this ever-flourishing space, we have compiled a list of some of the most active fintech investors who have actively backed the Indian fintech growth story.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list or ranking of any kind. We have placed investors in alphabetical order. We update this list periodically if you wish to nominate investors for this list, email us at editor@inc42.com.

Now, Meet The Top Fintech Investors In India 

1. 3one4 Capital

The sons of former Infosys CFO and ace investor TV Mohandas Pai, Pranav Pai and Siddarth Pai, have a tough legacy to match up to. Years after Pranav completed his post-graduation from Stanford University and Siddarth became a chartered accountant, the brother-duo entered into the investment world. 

The result was 3one4 Capital, which was founded by the two in 2015. Since its inception, the Bengaluru-based early-stage sector-agnostic venture capital (VC) firm has become renowned for its contrarian bets and has invested in sectors across the board, including enterprise tech, consumer internet, healthtech, and fintech, among others. 

But, the company, just like other investors, has set its eyes on the burgeoning Indian fintech ecosystem. Earlier this year, Siddarth Pai said that India would have the greatest amount of fintech innovation, and the country would build for the world.

Focussed on the same, 3one4 Capital has continued to build its fintech portfolio, which comprises big names such as Jupiter, CheQ, HyperFace, Open, and LoanTap.

The investment firm claims to manage a corpus of over $510 Mn and has raised accumulated $1.41 Bn in capital to date. Overall, the company manages a portfolio of more than 80 startups. 

2. Accel

Headquartered in the US, Accel was one of the first global investors that saw an opportunity in the Indian startup ecosystem. The venture capital entered India in 2005 after taking over the $10 Mn early stage fund called Erasmic Venture Fund. Subsequently, the fund was rebranded as Accel India. 

Since its India entry, it has launched seven funds, which have invested across sectors, including fintech. It has been the first investor in fintech startups such as Drip Capital, Samunnati, and Nimbbl, among others. 

Accel India’s portfolio of companies accounted for a market value of more than $100 Bn last year. Other than fintech, the VC firm has also backed big names such as Flipkart, upGrad, and Jugnoo, among others. 

3. Bessemer Ventures Partner

The California-based investment firm backs seed, early, and growth stage startups that operate across sectors such as fintech, D2C, and SaaS, among others.

It entered India in 2006 and opened its first office in Bengaluru. The investment firm is currently led by Anand Vidur Puri and Vishal Gupta. Since its inception, it claims to have invested in more than 65 companies in the country, including the likes of BigBasket, Swiggy, and Pepper Content, among others. 

The VC firm has so far backed many names in the fintech sector. Some of these names include Lentra, Rupifi, Innoviti, and Perfios. 

4. Better Capital 

Founded by Vaibhav Domkundwar in 2016, Better Capital invests in early stage tech startups, which, as per the investment firm, are focussed on solving large problems. With a combined valuation of more than $7 Bn, Better Capital has invested in over 200 Indian startups since its inception. 

The firm claims to have an investor base of 700 people and counts names such as Darwinbox and Zepto in its portfolio. 

The VC firm has emerged as one of the prolific backers of Indian fintech startups. It kicked off its investment journey in 2017 by infusing capital into fintech startup Khatabook and has subsequently added some of the country’s biggest fintech names to its kitty. 

The firm’s fintech portfolio comprises names like CRED, Pine Labs, slice, and M2P Fintech, among others.

5. General Atlantic

One of the early entrants into the Indian VC ecosystem, General Atlantic’s maiden investment in India was in 1993 when it invested in Wipro. Since then, it has backed some of the biggest stars in the Indian tech ecosystem, be it Infosys, TCS or even Reliance Industries.

When the startup boom of the mid-2010s erupted in the country, General Atlantic grabbed the lion’s share in startups like Flipkart, Ola, Swiggy, and Zomato. 

Similarly, the global VC firm has backed Indian fintech firms BharatPe, Paytm, CRED, Groww, Pine Labs, and Khatabook, among others 

In May 2023, it invested $100 Mn in fintech giant PhonePe, further shoring up its presence as a major investor in the homegrown fintech industry. 

6. InnoVen Capital

In 2015, Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek acquired the Indian arm of the now-beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank and forayed into the venture debt space. With funding from Singapore’s United Overseas Bank, Temasek rebranded the firm and is today known as InnoVen Capital. 

This set the ball rolling for InnoVen Capital, which has emerged as a key player in the Indian venture debt space. 

The Mumbai-based venture debt firm claims to have invested $800 Mn in 200-plus startups so far across sectors. It claims to have minted 35 Indian unicorns, including Myntra, OYO, BYJU’S, and PharmEasy, among others. 

However, its first bet in the Indian fintech space came in 2018 when it invested in Kunal Shah-led CRED and has since then scaled its portfolio of fintech startups. It has so far invested in a slew of homegrown fintech startups, including mSwipe, Niro, slice, BharatPe, Rupifi, Stashfin, and ZipLoan.

7. LetsVenture

LetsVenture is an angel network established in 2013 by Shanti Mohan and Sanjay Jha and largely focusses on early stage startups with ‘potential.’

The network claims to have made a total of 950 investments from a base of 19,530 investors and has a portfolio value of more than $11 Bn. It is a sector-agnostic investment network. 

The VC firm’s first major investment was in CRED in 2015. Following this, it also bolstered its fintech investments after pumping capital into emerging fintech players such as BharatX, LegalPay, and Castler, among others.

8. Omidyar Network India 

The Indian offshoot of the multinational impact investment firm Omidyar Network, the fund has largely made its bets in the country in early stage startups. 

As per reports, the fund has so far pumped in more than $500 Mn in investments in the Indian startup ecosystem, including names such as BYJU’S, and Ninjacart, among others. 

On the fintech front, Omidyar Network India’s first major investment came in a relatively unknown startup back then, called CRED, in 2016.

Apart from this, it has also invested in marquee fintech names such as Groww, Pine Labs, CredFlow, NeoGrowth, Scripbox, and Indifi, among others. 

9. Orios Venture Partners

Founded in 2013, Orios Venture Partners is an early stage Indian venture capital firm. The brainchild of Alok Mittal and Rakesh Malhotra, the VC firm is focussed on areas such as fintech, healthtech, and consumer internet, among others. 

With a total reported corpus of more than $250 Mn, many of the VC firm’s previous bets have paid off well, especially the ones in the fintech domain. Orios Venture Partners has successfully exited its stake in fintech giants such as BharatPe and PolicyBazaar. 

Investing out of its third fund currently, which it raised in 2021, Orios Venture Partners counts names like CityCash and WeRize in its portfolio. 

10. Peak XV Partners

Despite entering India somewhere around 2006, Sequoia India’s (now Peak XV Partners) first fintech investment came nearly a decade later in 2017, when it led a $30 Mn funding round of fintech juggernaut CRED. 

Not stopping there, one of the country’s biggest VC firms, Peak XV Partners, vigorously scaled its fintech portfolio from there, backing many fintech unicorns and startups such as Groww, Pine Labs, Khatabook, and Jupiter, among others.

Apart from fintech, Peak XV has also made bets across most Indian startup sectors and has invested in some of the biggest homegrown technology businesses, including the likes of Flipkart, Paytm, and BYJU’S, among others.

11. Prime Venture Partners

Bengaluru-based Prime Venture Partners was established in 2011 by Amit Somani, Bala Parthasarathy and Shripati Acharya. The early stage investor has been known to be a major backer of Indian fintech startups that are building for the world. 

With an average ticket size in the range of $500K-$3 Mn, the VC firm counts 44 startups in its portfolio. Prime Venture Partners has stood out among its peers, especially for some big ticket fintech exits in the past, including Recko (sold to Stripe), Happay (acquired by CRED), and Ezetap (acquired by Razporpay), among others. 

While the startup is currently investing out of its fourth fund, it has made many notable investments in the fintech space in the past, including names like Niyo, Freo, KredX, and OTOCapital, among others. 

12. Stride Ventures

Founded by Ishpreet Gandhi in 2019, New Delhi-based Stride Ventures is a venture debt fund that offers comprehensive credit solutions and mentorship to new-age tech startups. Managed by ex-bankers, the fund claims to have raised a total of $314.1 Mn in capital to date. 

So far, it claims to have invested in 100 startups across 15 sectors, including fintech, D2C, and EV, among others.

Stride Ventures has so far pumped capital in multiple fintech startups including the likes of Castler, ZipLoan, Perfios, and Upstox, among others. Its fintech portfolio comprises names like HomeLane, MyGlamm, Spinny, Infra.Market, BluSmart and Tender Cuts. 

13. Tiger Global

Since the crossover fund ventured into India in 2007, Tiger Global has emerged as one of the most active fintech investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. Largely stage-agnostic, Tiger Global focusses on Series A stage to pre-IPO startups. 

In the Indian fintech space, it has backed major players like PhonePe, Groww, RazorPay, CRED, and BharatPe, among others, so far. Earlier this year, the investment firm participated in PhonePe’s mega $100 Mn funding round.

14. Titan Capital

Titan Capital was launched in 2019 by Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and has so far raised more than $10 Bn from 100+ institutional investors.

Its portfolio includes 200-plus companies spread worldwide across sectors such as D2C, SaaS, and fintech.

Within fintech, Titan Capital has invested in 26 enterprises so far. This includes names such as Razorpay, Jupiter, Khatabook, ofBusiness, Stable Money, UniCards, and Credgenics, among others.

15. Venture Catalysts

Venture Catalysts was founded in 2015 by Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain, Anuj Golcha, and Gaurav Jain. The VC firm has invested in about 200 startups since its inception, including names like Darwinbox, Zepto, and OfBusiness. 

Its first investment in the Indian fintech sector was way back in 2016 when it participated in the $2 Mn round of Khatabook.

Some of its other key investments in the Indian fintech ecosystem include names such as BharatPe, GetVantage, HomeCapital, Ideal Insurance, Insurance Samadhan, Junio, Klub, LenDen Club, LiquiLoans, NuPay, and Vested Finance, among others. 

With more than 33 soonicorns and over 100 minicorns in its portfolio, VCats is one of the most active early stage investors in the country. The firm claims that 54 startups from its portfolio have crossed $50 Mn in valuation this year. 

Note: This is not an exhaustive list or ranking of any kind. We have placed investors in alphabetical order. We update this list periodically if you wish to nominate investors for this list, email us at editor@inc42.com 

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