- The Beams FinTech fund has been launched by India’s largest integrated incubator, Venture Catalysts
- Beaming portfolio companies to cross-pollinate with Middle East Banks & Fintech players
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, A: Beams Fintech Fund is India’s first dedicated Growth Capital Fintech Fund, investing in companies operating at the intersection of financial services and technology. The platform focuses on creating significant value for its portfolio companies and wants to expand internationally and sees the UAE as well positioned to be the international hub and Silk Road to the rest of the Gulf, North and East African regions.
As one of the largest trading partners, payment partners and FDI investors in India, the UAE is equipped to provide the necessary capital and infrastructure to support the Fintech companies out of India.
Institutions like Shuaa Capital, Mubadala, ADQ, ADIA, ADIC, Etisalat, Emaar, Banks etc have been active in India for some time and can work with Beams and its portfolio companies to create a bigger and stronger Fintech economy between the two countries that will promote further innovation and development. Given the favorable demographic factors, the enabling regulatory framework pushed by the RBI, CEPA and the historical relationship between the two countries, this is the right time for institutions and investors in the region looking to build Fintech portfolio to diversify geographically by to evaluate newer opportunities coming out of India.
India is the third largest Fintech market globally after the US and China in terms of number of startups and invested capital and number of unicorns. In 2021, 18 companies turned unicorns in the Fintech space out of a total of 43 unicorns in India – BharatPe, Digit, Cred, Meesho, Groww, Five Star Finance, Zeta, Chargebee. 1/3 of all unicorns in India are in the Fintech space.
With a target size of $120 million and a greenshoe option, Beam’s strategy is to invest $15-$20 million in Growth Stages, Series B & C rounds of Fintech companies led by high-quality entrepreneurs. Beams takes a very strong co-investment approach to investing and actively offers co-investment opportunities to its LPs. Beams plans to build a concentrated portfolio of a dozen Fintech companies in a market currently valued at $80 billion+ and likely to touch $250+ billion by 2030. Beams is launched by India’s first and largest integrated incubator, Venture Catalysts, which also has 9Unicorns , a $120 million early-stage sector-agnostic accelerator fund in its stable.
Beams is co-founded by Fintech veteran Sagar Agarvwal and the founders of Venture Catalysts – Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Anuj Golecha, Anil Jain, Gaurav Jain. In the Middle East, Deepak Ahuja, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Sehteq, has been selected as a founder and Fintech Expert Partner.
Asuman Dayican Abdullatif has also joined the platform as a Venture Partner. Sudhanshu Garg will act as institutional advisor for the region.
The founding team of Beams has deep experience with more than 20 years of investing in and building 300+ companies, including fintech and financial services, such as BharatPe, Dukaan, Flobiz, Esskay, Impact Guru, Suryoday, Centrum, OTO Capital, Klub, GetVantage, LenDenClub, LiquiLoans and Junio.
Beams has already started investing from its fund and has invested in Niyo, India’s leading digital banking platform along with Accel and Lightrock. Beams also completes its second investment which is in the supply chain finance space along with Tiger Global, Google, Sequoia and Creations.
Beams has a founder-first approach and a focused strategy to offer founders the capital and ecosystem support to build large successful fintech companies. It would provide a network of local and international banks, insurance companies, NBFCs, Fintechs, mentors and advisors to not only access capital at affordable rates but also accelerate the go-to-market strategy for its portfolio companies in India and the Middle East .
With more than 2.6 million members and a population share of 30%, Indians make up the largest expatriate community in the UAE and become the natural entry point for Beam’s portfolio companies. Middle East Banks, NBFCs and Large Tech Founders can become part of Beam’s ecosystems to support the Middle East Fintech ecosystem.
Emphasizing the opportunities in the Fintech sector, Sagar Agarvwal, Co-Founder and Partner, Beams, said: “Fintech is consuming an increasingly large part of the software pie. We are in fintech 3.0 right now globally, with the first wave of lending and payment companies receiving a significant amount capital, and now capital is moving across segments. Seasoned professionals and high-quality entrepreneurs are moving out of larger firms to target newer categories to address the global demand for financial services.”
On the need for a Fintech fund, Anuj Golecha, Co-Founder and Partner, Beams said, “Fintech opportunities are huge in India as it is the only technology segment in India that has created over $80 billion in value in India and $8 billion in M&As. Our returns in BharatPe are a testimony to the opportunity in the Fintech space in India. We have given 90x returns to investors from BharatPe exit which became a Unicorn last year and is creating more Unicorns in this space. We have one of the best Fintech investment teams in India with an excellent track record.”
“The Middle East and especially the UAE plays an important role in India’s tech ecosystem. Middle Eastern investors are not only actively investing in India but supporting our companies to expand into the Middle East. ADGM & ADIO have come up with special incentives to encourage Indian companies to enter the Middle East and we are excited to help build the Fintech ecosystem in the region.” said Deepak Ahuja, Fintech Expert Partner, Beams.
With higher adoption of technology and growing interest from banks and financial institutions in the UAE looking to collaborate on technology, product creation and partnership with Fintechs, this would be the right time to bring in models from India. Indian fintechs can not only offer technology partnerships but also build greater results in the region by acquiring domestic fintech players. They can cooperate by building larger regional platforms, building cost synergies etc
About beams
Beams Fintech Fund is a Growth Capital Fintech Fund for India that provides ecosystem, value addition and capital to support tomorrow’s Fintech founders. Beams Fintech Fund will focus on investing in Growth Stage rounds (Series B & C) of financial technology companies driven by exceptional entrepreneurs. We aim to create market leaders for the Fintech revolution in India by supporting entrepreneurs in building enterprise solutions for the financial services industry and disrupting the way banking and financial services are traditionally offered to customers and businesses.
