Investcorp, a leading global provider and manager of alternative investment products, has recently announced the successful closure of its Investcorp Technology Partners V (ITP V) fund. Surpassing its initial target, the fund secured an impressive $570 million in capital, highlighting investor confidence in the tech sector. The primary focus of this fund will be on nurturing and supporting software, data/analytics, cybersecurity, and fintech startups.
Strong Fundamentals and Strategic Investments
Image Source: waya.media
Investcorp’s latest fund comes at a time when the demand for innovative solutions in cybersecurity and fintech is soaring. With a track record of managing assets worth $52 billion and a presence in 14 key locations globally, including the US, Europe, GCC, and Asia, Investcorp brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the table.
The success of Investcorp’s previous $400 million fund is evident in the growth and achievements of companies like softgarden, Avira, Ageras, and Impero. Building on this foundation, the ITP V fund aims to take controlling stakes in companies with revenues of approximately $10 million or more and positive EBITDA. These companies typically require equity investments ranging from $30 million to $75 million, positioning Investcorp as a significant player in the mid-market technology investment landscape.
Strategic Partnerships and Future Outlook
The deployment of funds from ITP V has already begun, with notable investments in VEDA, HWG Sababa, Zift Solutions, and NetRom. Gilbert Kamieniecky, Head of European Private Equity at Investcorp, expressed enthusiasm about the fund’s final close, emphasizing the company’s successful investment strategy and commitment to delivering value to investors.
Hazem Ben-Gacem, Co-CEO of Investcorp, acknowledged the support of existing and new investors, highlighting Investcorp’s ability to navigate market cycles and deliver consistent results. Leveraging Investcorp’s global reach and strategic approach, the ITP V fund is well-positioned to identify and partner with promising tech companies, driving innovation and accelerating growth in the cybersecurity and fintech sectors.
Investcorp’s latest fund closure not only underscores investor confidence in the tech industry’s future but also signifies a strategic move towards fostering innovation and driving sustainable growth in key technology-driven sectors.
Apple became the newest business to join the buy now, pay later trend on Tuesday when it introduced a feature in its digital wallet that enables users to pay for their online purchases in installments.
Customers can now split purchases into four equal payments over the course of six weeks thanks to the new Apple Pay Later feature, with the first payment owing at the time of transaction.
Image Source: ft.com
Apple customers can also use the Wallet app to ask for loans that range from $50 to $1,000 with no fees or interest charges in order to carry out online or app-based purchases.
Based to a company release, the method of payment is currently being made available to a small number of American users, with intentions to make it available to all eligible consumers over the course of the ensuing few months.
The feature was first hinted at by Apple last year. In the face of high inflation and general economic uncertainty, an increasing number of consumers are turning to buy now, pay later services to extend their budgets.
The same payment choice is also available through popular services like Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay. However, some economists and pro-consumer activists have expressed worry that these services might lead consumers to incur more debt.
Based to a company release, the method of payment is currently being made available to a small number of American users, with intentions to make it available to all eligible consumers over the course of the ensuing few months.
The feature was first hinted at by Apple last year. In the face of high inflation and general economic uncertainty, an increasing number of consumers are turning to buy now, pay later services to extend their budgets. The same payment choice is also available through popular services like Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay.
However, some economists and pro-consumer activists have expressed worry that these services might lead consumers to incur more debt.
The latest feature is “designed with users’ financial health in mind,” according to Apple. According to Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, “there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to how people manage their finances. Many people are looking for flexible payment options, which is why we’re excited to provide our users with Apple Pay Later.”
Future loan payments can be monitored and managed in the Wallet app for Apple users. The company claims that any loan registration can be made through the app without having an impact on credit.
Clearwater Analytics is a fintech company based in Idaho, United States. The company was founded in 2004 and is currently led by Sandeep Sahai, the present CEO. Being one of the most trusted companies for advanced accounting solutions with investment data aggregation and much more to provide, the company has received several awards. The company’s primary customers are asset managers, big and small insurance companies, multinational corporations and banks, government bodies, and many other institutions. There are approximately 2,000 employees in this company who are working from offices situated in London, India, USA, and Scotland. The company has such a vast network that it reports more than $5.9 trillion in assets on a daily basis across thousands of accounts.
Story Of Clearwater Analytics
Back in 2004, Clearwater Analytics was founded by David Boren, Michael Boren, and Douglas Bates. Before founding this company, these three co-founders established Clearwater Advisors, an institutional fixed-income investment advisor. After this advisor body was established, the three of them eventually landed on the concept of Clearwater Analytics. After the company was established in 2004, it eventually started expanding both in terms of its client diversity as well as geography. Clearwater Analytics has multiple offices in Europe and a few years back decided to invest heavily in the Indian market. For the impressive solutions offered by the company, it has received the Innovative Company of the Year award in 2012 from the Idaho Innovation Awards.
By the end of 2013, the company entered into a partnership with Gardner Co. to help the company finance a nine-story building. The construction of this Clearwater building was completed after three years. In 2013, the company was also named Technology Firm of the Year by Captive Review. In 2019, the company received two awards in a row, Technology Firm of the Year at the Insurance Asset Management Awards and Best Software Solution at the UK & European Captive Review Awards, respectively. As the company has reported over $5.5 trillion in investment assets, it is clear that it has several high-profile clients. Some of them are J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Cisco, Oracle, and Facebook.
Image source: pressablecdn.com
Entering The Indian Market
It was in 2019 that the company announced that it will enter the Indian market. Its plan was to invest $25 million in the next three years. The company made a plan to invest this amount in National Capital Region (NCR) by March 2020 and decided to bring 200 professionals on board. Currently, the company has its office in Noida, India.
Sandeep Sahai – CEO
Sandeep Sahai is the present CEO of the company and he is holding this position for the last four years. After Sandeep became the CEO of the company, Clearwater Analytics flourished in the targeted global markets and also expanded in its core industries. It is under his supervision that the company has ten offices presently across six different companies. Moreover, he also led Clearwater Analytics to its IPO in the fall of 2021. Now, it is a publicly-traded company under the ticker CWAN. Sandeep is an alumnus of IIT Varanasi and IIM Calcutta. Apart from playing his role in several executive positions in various global companies, he also founded a consulting firm called TechSpan. And, prior to joining Clearwater Analytics, he was the CEO of Headstrong.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more
Avant is a financial technology company based in Chicago, Illinois, US. The company was formerly known as AvantCredit and was established in 2012. Avant mainly focuses on two primary products, personal loans for middle-income borrowers and Avant Credit Card which come with a credit limit of $300 to $1000. The grew as AvantCredit and created a very strong brand name for customer lending services. The founders of Avant are Al Goldstein, John Sun, and Paul Zhang. Avant is a very young company and currently, it serves customers in the US and the UK only. It is a private company with 550 employees and the CEO of the company is Matt Bochenek.
About Avant
Founded in 2012, Avant’s target was to provide loans to customers who belong to the middle-class tier of our society. These are the people that need help with home improvements, high-interest debts, etc. Avant grasped the market so quickly that it is one of the few Chicago-based startups that has gained unicorn status and is still a privately-held company. Avant’s valuation has nearly touched $2 billion. In 2013, the company issued its first personal loan and used its propriety technology to determine a person’s creditworthiness.
There are various factors that help Avant determine the amount, time, etc at which the money can be borrowed. From machine learning protocols to various analytical tools, Avant rigorously checks a customer’s profile. Avant has also built a fully online process for its customers to eliminate the need for several physical branches and simplify the overall borrowing process. The company is supported by numerous big investors like Tiger Global, August Capital, General Atlantic, Victory Park Capital, etc. When the company began offering loans, it just started with 16 states but soon expanded to Canada and the UK.
Image source: www.avantcorp.com
Story of Avant
Avant’s customer base includes those people who generally don’t get loans from regular banks but at the same time have decent enough income to repay loans at sizable interest. This is the reason Avant’s technology determines a person’s creditworthiness in every way possible. In 2012, two of the Avant’s co-founders Sun and Zhang were looking forward to building their business, Debteye after graduating from the Y Combinator startup program. The business was about designing a platform that would help individuals manage debts after analyzing their unique financial situation.
In the pursuit of opening a business, Sun decided to take a personal loan from a traditional brick and mortar establishment because he had no income. But, he found that the entire process of applying and the loan getting sanctioned is very time-consuming and inconvenient. So, with the idea of the new venture combined with finding a solution to smoothen the process of loan sanction, Avant emerged. Sun and Zhang were former interns of Goldstein, seeing this as an opportunity they built a product in December 2012. Avant had a very strong financial backup from the beginning as it raised $1 million in seed funding. Within the next three years, the total funding of the company touched $1 billion.
Success
Avant received a lot of awards and recognitions only within a few years after it issued the first loan. In 2015, the company ranked 6th in Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies and in the Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups. Paul Zhang, the co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Avant was featured in Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list. In the same year, the company also acquired ReadyForZero, a debt management platform, and rebranded it as Avant. In 2014 company successfully raised $225 Million in equity between Tiger Global Management, Peter Thiel, and KKR. But only after a year of the acquisition, Avant announced the shut down of ReadyForZero’s credit score and debt planner tools.
Matt Bochenek – CEO of Avant
Matt Bochenek joined Avant in 2013 in the Strategy & Operations department and after that served in many other roles. He became the CEO of the company in May 2021 and before that served as the COO for one year. Before joining Avant, he worked at Superfund Asset Management as the Managing Director of Business Development and Strategy. Matt went to the University of Chicago.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more
Anyone who buys things online, and does enough research regarding sales will know about Cashkaro, as it is one of India’s most prominent coupons website. If you aren’t an online buying aficionado, Cashkaro allows you to use rebates, coupons and cashback to shop more efficiently and frugally.
Started in 2013, Cashkaro which was founded by couple turned entrepreneurs, Rohan and Swati Bhargava, after graduation from the London School of Economics. Here’s a look at how Swati built up such an empire, in such a short time.
The Founders
Swati Bhargava is an Investment Banker, turned business visionary from the quaint town of Ambala. She was born and brought up in Ambala, till she left for Singapore after securing a scholarship for herself. At the young age of 16, Swati won the jackpot when she got selected for the Singapore Airlines scholarship. As the small-town girl secured more than 85% in her12th grade and ended up impressing the judges and getting selected. It was Singapore that inspired the young Swati to dream bigger.
Image Source: businessworld.in
After finishing her schooling, she joined the London School of Economics and earned an Honour’s degree in Mathematics and Economics in 2005. She then began her banking career at Goldman Sachs, where she worked both in the Investment Banking and Executive Office divisions for five years.
While as a young girl Swati dreamt of joining the Indian Foreign Services, she instead opted to turn entrepreneur due to her love for marketing and business. Swati also had plans of joining Oxford as a youngster, but later, decided to go ahead with the London School of Economics as they gave her a higher scholarship.
Meanwhile, after graduating from the London School of Economics, Rohan worked with reputed companies like Washington Square and Aladdin Capital where he oversaw acquisitions worth more than $1 billion. He then went on to start his own venture, in 2011 called Pouring Pounds, in the UK, which too, focused on coupons and cashback. Once he got back to India, he and his wife, established Cashkaro, which quickly turned successful.
Founding
Cashkaro
Leaving behind a safe and secure life as Investment bankers in the UK, the Bhargavas switched their focus to Pouring Pounds, which was a coupon based business, they had in the UK in 2011. It was the resounding success of such cashback companies in the US and UK, that prompted Swati to start such a venture.
The rebate business is a multi-billion-dollar business both in the US and China. This inspired Swati and Rohan to try out something of their own, through Pouring Pounds. While Swati never felt she would move back to India while working in London, the success of their venture, convinced the couple to shift their focus to India.
The couple gained enough confidence from the success of Pouring Pounds and so decided to extend their business to India in April 2013. The company started out with a small team in India, the co-founders staying in London. The two realised that they needed funding, so the couple wrote to a few friends about raising US$250K for the business, but by the end of the day, got replies from over 20 interested parties. Within 48 hours, the duo raised US$750K as investors knew that the e-commerce market in India had unlimited potential. Swati was able to successfully convince over 500 e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Myntra, and Jabong to join their venture, and this helped spearhead the company’s impressive growth.
Cash Positive Cashkaro
Cashkaro
quickly grew to become one of India’s leading coupons website, with
transactions exceeding Rs 10 crores. The company successfully offers
and fulfils over 5,500 exchanges daily and since its inception has
helped users save a whopping Rs 200 crores.
CashKaro.com has grown to become a preeminent player in the Indian market and is the only coupons website that is venture-capitalist supported. The company has raised over $4 million through a Series A funding managed by Kalaari Capital. The business model which allowed retailers that enlisted in Cashkaro to pay them a commission, which would then pass on to the customers as cashback, found immediate success in India. This unique model ensured that their business was not impaired by GST directly.
Cashkaro Today
Today, the site has got over 150,000 registered members who save an average of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per year, thanks to Cashkaro. The company has over 1,500 associates including Koovs, Pepperfry, MakeMyTrip and Zoomcar to name a few.
While the idea was novel and was started from scratch, the company now has more than 80 employees. Swati’s guiding philosophy comes from the Gita, which says,” Karm karo, phal ki chinta mat karo!”, and this is something that the female entrepreneur has followed from day one to grow her business to its present glory. Currently, Swati heads Cashkaro’s marketing team and is working on plans for the company’s expansion into diverse verticals.
It
wasn’t easy becoming India’s first cashback based company to raise
more than $
750,000.
It took a lot of courage, knowledge, research and hard work, but it
was all worth it for Swati, as she marches on a proud female
entrepreneur, a flagbearer for several small-town girls with big
dreams!
Being a cinephile with a love for all things outdoorsy, Athulya never misses a chance to chase inspiring stories or poke fun at things, even when the subject is herself. Currently pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, she is someone innately interested in technical and scientific research. Music reviews and op-eds define her as they allow her to explore different perspectives. Though sometimes she thinks she makes more sense playing the guitar than she does while writing.
There have been many rags to riches story, among which, Jack Ma’s rejection story is on the top. In almost every such story, the people who have succeeded once had difficulty in even earning their one time meal. But as time changes, their hard work takes them to new heights, and they only set up new examples for other people. One such story is of the founder of Klarna, a Swedish version of Paypal, which was founded by Sebastian Siemiatkowski in 2005. Siemiatkowski was not rejected, but had a similar humble background and worked at Burger King. And now, like Ma, he has also established himself as one of the successful entrepreneurs in the tech industry.
Early Life
Sebastian Siemiatkowski met his future partner and friend Niklas Adalberth, at Burger King, where both worked as part-timers. Later, the two went on to join the Stockholm School of Economics to pursue a graduate degree in Economics. At the college, they even met the third co-founder of Klarna, Victor Jacobsson.
The two while studying and working together always discussed new startup ideas, but none of them was sure about what they should really do. During their college, they decided to take a year’s off and travel the world without flying. The two went to explore the world through road trips and on ships. This way, they got extra time to think about their career.
Image Source: businessinsider.com
Founding Klarna
While back from the trip, Siemiatkowski joined sales job and came
across the emerging concept of e-Commerce. While working with the
sales department, he got to know that it is quite difficult to sell
things online, as people do not trust the online payment systems.
This problem later became the basis for Klarna.
Siemiatkowski discussed the problem with Niklas and decided to build
a new payment system for people to make the purchases. Jacobsson also
joined in, and they participated in the Stockholm School of Economics
annual entrepreneurship award with the idea. Though Siemiatkowski and
his partners had a lot of faith in the idea, it could not make to the
finals. In fact, it was one of the lasts. But Jane Walerud, an angel
investor, showed interest in the idea and invested in it. He even
helped the three co-founders to meet a good development team.
Finally, in the mid of 2005, Siemiatkowski along with his partners
founded Klarna and opened its first office in Sweden. They started by
offering the option of paying for the goods after receiving them.
This led the consumers to trust Klarna faster, as they were hesitant
about buying things online. But with Klarna, they could pay after
deciding if they wanted to keep the goods.
The Success
The company received another investment from AB Öresund in 2007. In 2010, the company expanded its services to Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The same years, Klarna also received investment from Sequoia Capital, and the company’s revenue raised by 80%.
In 2011, the company was named as one of Europe’s 100 most promising
young tech companies by The Telegraph. In a round of funding, led by
General Atlantic Klarna raised a $155M investment. The company also
acquired the Israeli company Analyzd specialising in risk management
and online payments. Klarna then expanded its services to the US.
This expansion has contributed a lot to the growth of Klarna. In the
same year, the company’s revenues made it one of the Unicorns in
the country.
By 2018, the company registered around 60M users, and around 90,000
online merchants were using Klarna to carry out their payments. In
the latest round of funding held in 2019, Klarna raised $460 million,
Dragoneer Investment Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, HMI
Capital, Merian Chysalis Investment Company Limited being the major
investors. This funding round made the company value at $5.5 billion,
and it became the largest fintech start-up in Europe.
Through the story of Klarna, we definitely can say that hard work can
really change one’s life if it is put in the right direction.
Yashica is a Software Engineer turned Content Writer, who loves to write on social causes and expertise in writing technical stuff. She loves to watch movies and explore new places. She believes that you need to live once before you die. So experimenting with her life and career choices, she is trying to live her life to the fullest.
