Cedar Capital announces first close of $30M fintech fund

Cedar Capital recently announced the first close of its $30 million fintech-focused venture capital fund.

The early-stage fund, a collaborative effort between Cedar, a global consulting firm, and IBS Intelligence, a fintech market intelligence platform, aims to invest in approximately 15 BankTech and B2B fintech startups. 

Despite a challenging venture capital environment, The firm attracted significant interest, securing commitments of $6-9 million from leading family offices and institutional investors in India and the Middle East.

Unique focus and strategy

The fund's strategy is to back seasoned entrepreneurs developing solutions for the banking and financial services sector, including banks, insurance companies, NBFCs, and other financial players.

With an initial investment range of $500k to $1 million, Cedar Capital is positioning itself as a key player in the BankTech and enterprise fintech space.

Sahil Anand emphasizes the fund's unique position, leveraging Cedar-IBSi's six decades of global research, consulting reputation, and its in-house FinTech Lab to provide more than just capital to its portfolio companies.

Amidst evolving regulatory changes and increased scrutiny in the banking and fintech ecosystem by the Reserve Bank of India, Cedar Capital's B2B focus offers a strategic advantage. The fund plans to further invest in 8 to 10 winner companies from its portfolio, aiming for a significant impact in the banking infrastructure and systems space, which is ripe for disruption.

Leadership and governance

The fund's leadership includes Sahil Anand, Subit Saurav from Aavishkar Capital, and Sunny Desa from YES Bank, with an advisory board comprising industry stalwarts like Sanjiv Anand, Pradip Shah, Bobby Parikh, Felipe Martinez, and Sandeep Chouhan.