Cedar Capital, a joint investment venture of Cedar Consulting and fintech market intelligence platform IBS Intelligence, has announced the first close of its Rs 240 crore ($30 million) Fintech Venture Capital fund, raising capital in the range of Rs 50 to 75 crore, according to a statement on Monday.
The fund, with an initial cheque size ranging from Rs 4 to 10 crore, would invest in almost 15 early-stage startups, with a primary focus on banking technology and business-to-business (B2B) fintech startups.
Leading family offices and institutional investors from India and the Middle East are among the limited partners participating in this round, the statement added.
This development comes at a time when the banking and fintech ecosystem in India is facing increased scrutiny and regulatory changes from the Reserve Bank of India, including adjustments like raising the risk weight on consumer credit for banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and heightened oversight on credit card operations.
“The fund will focus heavily on backing seasoned entrepreneurs who are building solutions and technology in the area of BankTech; Enterprise fintechs that are solving for use cases and problems within banks, insurance companies, NBFCs and other financial services players,” the company said in a statement.
In March 2023, Cedar Capital announced the launch of its fintech-focused venture capital fund, targeting geographies like India, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and other markets. It appointed Subit Saurav from impact investment firm Aavishkar Capital to co-lead investments with the founder Sahil Anand and Sunny Desa from YES Bank to oversee investor relations and fintech investments.
The advisory board of Cedar Capital includes industry veterans such as Sanjiv Anand, chairman of Cedar Group, Pradip Shah, founder of CRISIL and HDFC, Bobby Parikh, cofounder of BMR Advisors, Felipe Martinez, chief investment officer of Revolut, among others.
