In a big win for India’s emerging fintech infrastructure ecosystem, Bengaluru-based startup Spense has raised $1.85 million in its pre-seed funding round, led by GrowthCap Ventures. The round also saw participation from several marquee angels 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), among others.
At a time when India’s financial sector is racing to adopt smarter and more compliant digital solutions, Spense is building the backend that could power the future of banking.
Founded by Pawan Kumar, former Head of Applied Science at Uber India, and Srinivas Krishnamurthy, previously Technical Lead at BNP Paribas, Spense is crafting programmable banking and card infrastructure tailored for the new-age financial world. The company is currently helping regulated institutions launch and manage secured credit card, prepaid card, and forex programs, with a focus on rapid deployment and compliance.
The new funds, according to the founders, will be directed toward expanding partnerships with banks and fintechs, deepening the product stack, and moving beyond credit cards into broader banking use cases. The team aims to address a longstanding gap in the Indian financial system—building flexible infrastructure that’s regulation-ready and quick to integrate, even with legacy banking systems.
“Our vision is to make launching a secured credit or prepaid program as seamless as launching a web app,” said Pawan Kumar. “Banks and fintechs want to innovate, but they’re often slowed down by compliance complexity or tech limitations. We’re here to fix that.”
At its core, Spense offers a developer-first platform for financial institutions—one that supports regulatory oversight, auditability, and tight integration with existing systems. As India continues to see a surge in embedded finance and neobanking solutions, such platforms are becoming increasingly critical to supporting scalable, secure innovation.
With this funding, Spense joins a growing list of Indian startups reimagining the foundation of financial services—starting not with consumers, but with the infrastructure that powers it all.
