The fund will focus heavily on backing seasoned entrepreneurs who are building solutions and technology in the areas of banktech, fintech, and other financial services players.
Cedar Capital, a fintech-focused investment venture of Cedar and IBS Intelligence, has marked the first close of its Rs 240 crore early-stage fund. The fund will follow a classic Limited Partner- General Partner (LP-GP) model, the investment firm said in a statement.
The fund has gathered commitments in the range of Rs 50–75 crore. LPs include leading family offices and institutional investors in India and the Middle East, including a leading Indian financial services institution that has backed the fund. For the next phase of the fundraise, there is a strong pipeline of investors currently evaluating the fund in light of its uniqueness and BankTech sector expertise and focus, according to a company statement.
“Despite the negative venture capital environment, we have had success in attracting interest for our fund in light of our BankTech and B2B sector-specialist focus and our global research and consulting reputation over 60+ years.” Sahil Anand, the fund’s founder and managing partner,.
With an initial cheque size of Rs 4–10 crore, Cedar Capital will seek to invest in 5 early-stage BankTech-focused start-ups in their Seed-Series A rounds. The fund will focus heavily on backing seasoned entrepreneurs who are building solutions and technology in the area of bank technology and enterprise fintechs that are solving use cases and problems within banks, insurance companies, NBFCs, and other financial services players.
Last year, Cedar Capital also roped in Subit Saurav from Aavishkar Capital to co-lead investments with Anand and Sunny Desa from YES Bank’s Financial Investor Strategy team to lead investor relations and FinTech investments. The core fund investment team is also supported by four operating partners from Cedar and IBSi, who each have 20+ years of experience in BankTech and CTO advisory.
To oversee governance and fund strategy, Cedar Capital’s advisory board consists of Sanjiv Anand, Chairman, Cedar Group; Pradip Shah, Founder, CRISIL & HDFC; Bobby Parikh, Co-Founder, BMR Advisors; Felipe Martinez, CIO, Revolut; and Sandeep Chouhan, a senior banker and technologist for leading GCC banks.