Early-stage venture capital fund SphitiCap, on Monday announced an investment of $11.5 million (about Rs 94.7 crore) in fintech startup PayVeda, marking its second bet from its maiden fund.
VCCircle, earlier, reported SphitiCap’s plans to announce four investments plans in November amounting to about Rs 180 crore (about $22 million), in November. The VC fund announced its first investment, amounting to about $2.3 million in eyewear brand ClearDekho, last week.
“Our aim is to take banking and non-banking fintech services to rural India and create employment for rural youth in locations that are often overlooked. Furthermore, our goal is to leverage technology to increase financial inclusion and create a financial ecosystem for the underbanked and unbanked across the country,” PayVeda’s founder, Prateek Vohra said.
The Noida-based startup’s pipeline of strategic acquisitions, and the near plausibility of an initial public offering (IPO) contributed to its inclusion in SphitiCap’s portfolio, the VC fund said.
“We are confident that our investment in the company will give impetus to its expansion and acquisition strategy while strengthening its IPO roadmap. We look forward to seeing the impact of our investment in the years to come,” Pallav Singh, managing partner at SphitiCap.
Founded in 2019, the fintech player is aimed at bridging the gap in financial inclusion in India’s underserved markets. It claims to have built a network comprising 80,000 merchants, with an aim to build a 50-lakh merchant network in the next four years.
Some of its service offerings include payments and other financial management solutions including cash deposit, cash withdrawal, money transfer, bill payments, Aadhaar-enabled services, air time recharge, railway ticketing booking, MPOS, QR code payments, digital payments, and more. Its services are available via a mobile application for Android devices.
