• Spense raised $1.85 million in a pre-seed funding round led by GrowthCap Ventures.
  • The startup enables banks and fintechs to issue secured credit cards and other financial products with regulatory compliance.

Bengaluru-based fintech startup Spense has raised $1.85 million in a pre-seed funding round led by GrowthCap Ventures, with participation from notable angel investors including Kunal Shah (CRED), Sayandeb Banerjee (The Math Company), Suresh Rayasam (Google), and Ravi Sudhakar (Microsoft).

Launched in 2023 by Pawan Kumar, former Head of Applied Science at Uber India, and Srinivas Krishnamurthy, who previously led technical teams at BNP Paribas, Spense is building programmable banking infrastructure to help regulated financial entities modernise their credit offerings.

The funds will be used to scale Spense’s infrastructure, onboard more banks, and expand into new fintech partnerships, building on its current secured credit card services. The startup allows banks and fintechs to issue secured credit cards, prepaid instruments, and forex products with full regulatory compliance and integration with legacy systems.

“If someone has a fixed deposit, they should be able to get a credit card. It’s that simple,” said CEO Pawan Kumar. “We’ve proven the model. Now it’s time to scale secured credit cards with every bank in India.”

Spense’s API-first platform provides banks with the tools to launch compliant credit products more efficiently, tapping into a vast, underserved market locked out of credit due to outdated systems and conservative underwriting.

“We're now focused on unlocking more use cases beyond credit cards,” said CTO Srinivas Krishnamurthy, pointing to the company’s broader ambitions.
“Spense is solving one of the most overlooked problems in Indian finance—access,” said Pratekk Agarwaal, General Partner at GrowthCap Ventures.

The startup is already working with multiple regulated entities and is positioning itself as a full-stack infrastructure provider for India’s fast-evolving fintech ecosystem.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah