Bengaluru-based fintech startup Spense has raised $1.85 million in a pre-seed funding round led by GrowthCap Ventures. The investment also saw participation from prominent angel investors, including Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED), Sayandeb Banerjee (Co-founder, The Math Company), Suresh Rayasam (Head of Applied AI for GTM), and Ravi Sudhakar (Director, AI Global Business Strategy at Microsoft)
Key Highlights
- Mission-Driven Innovation: Spense aims to modernize India’s credit infrastructure by providing programmable banking and card solutions.
- Product Offerings: The platform enables financial institutions to launch secured credit cards, prepaid cards, and forex programs with regulatory compliance and seamless integration into existing systems.
- Strategic Use of Funds: The raised capital will be utilized to onboard additional banking partners, expand fintech collaborations, and enhance Spense’s technology stack to support a broader range of financial services
- Founding Team: Founded in 2023 by Pawan Kumar, former Head of Applied Science at Uber India, and Srinivas Krishnamurthy, former Technical Lead at BNP Paribas, Spense is positioned as a full-stack infrastructure provider for regulated financial entities.
- Market Opportunity: Spense addresses the gap in India’s financial system by offering flexible infrastructure that is regulation-ready and quick to integrate, even with legacy banking systems .
Backing from Industry Leaders
The participation of high-profile investors underscores the confidence in Spense’s vision and potential. Pratekk Agarwaal, General Partner at GrowthCap Ventures, highlighted the startup’s commitment to building scalable, bank-grade infrastructure to enhance credit access in India .
Future Outlook
With the new funding, Spense is poised to expand its partnerships with banks and fintechs, deepen its product offerings, and move beyond credit cards into broader banking use cases. The startup’s modular architecture and API-first model offer a path for faster go-to-market execution, catering to both traditional banks and new-age fintechs
