fintech fund: Fintech veteran fund launches program to help industry leaders start up
As part of the program, White Venture Capital will help these industry leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs connect with other founder networks, provide guidance and leverage to launch their entrepreneurial journeys, and make a $500,000 equity investment in the startups.
The venture backer will select 4-6 ideas as part of the first batch, Sweta Rau, founder and general partner of White Venture Capital, told ET. The fund has dedicated a corpus of up to $3 million for investments, as part of the program.
“Even in our portfolio companies (as angel investors), which have driven maximum returns for us, we saw that industry leaders were initially very hesitant to start up and needed a sounding board to validate their ideas. Today, these 4-5 investments have become very successful , Sweta Rau tells ET. “Hence, we thought of starting this program and formalizing it, which will give entrepreneurs the right confidence to start. In a period of decline, we also see the best entrepreneurial talent coming out.”
“As part of the program, our first check will take care of the initial expenses for these managers starting out. We will be primarily focused on the fintech ecosystem as part of the ‘Call to Adventure’, but will also look at other areas in software-as-a-service (SaaS) and consumer technology,” she added. “Once they have built their products, we would like to introduce them to other investors who are also our LPs (limited partners) or make follow-on investments.”
Strong track record
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As angel investors, Gupta, Amrish and Sweta Rau have funded over 100 companies, including fintechs such as Cred, M2P Fintech, Open, DotPe, Khatabook and gaming company Mobile Premier League, which have delivered strong returns for them.
The trio announced the launch of White Venture Capital in January, with a $40 million corpus to support early-stage fintech startups in India and Southeast Asia, while helping them with necessary mentorship.
Since its launch, White Venture Capital has already made 12 investments and distributed approximately $4.9 million behind those efforts. Two of these investments are startups in the Southeast Asia region.
White Venture Capital has reserved nearly 20-30% of its corpus for non-fintech investments across SaaS and consumer technology opportunities.
The fund is looking to make at least 8-9 investments in 2023, and will continue to write checks in the $500,000 to $1 million range.
White Venture Capital’s backers
Husband-wife duo Amrish and Sweta Rau, along with Gupta, have pumped $15 million of their own capital into the fund. Other backers of White Venture Capital include Sequoia Capital India, Japan’s Credit Saison, TVF Capital, Beenext and Cred founder Kunal Shah, among others.
“When you have the burning desire to build a startup, you just need someone to show you the way,” Amrish Rau, who is also the CEO of Pine Labs, said in a LinkedIn post about the new program.
Gupta and Amrish Rau had previously co-founded Citrus Pay, which was acquired by Naspers in 2016.
