Participated · Series B · Nov 2021

Slice issues physical and virtual cards aimed at millennials and lets professionals and students buy collateral-free goods and services on estimated monthly installments (EMIs) via an app to build credit scores. The company is led by co-founder Rajan Bajaj and is Bengaluru-based. In November 2021 Slice’s Series C valued the company at over $1.5 billion; the article reports $340 million raised to date. Slice has pursued financial-sector expansion, including a March 2022 acquisition of a 5% stake in North East Small Finance Bank for roughly $3.42 million and an announced merger with the bank in October 2023. The business reported a 59.8% increase in losses to Rs 406 crore for the fiscal year ended March 2023 and showed 3X growth, and it has not yet filed FY24 annual results. The company has raised multiple debt tranches this year as part of its broader financing strategy. Slice is a consumer lending and payments startup that provides credit and payments solutions. The company has pursued bank partnerships, acquiring a 5% stake in Guwahati-headquartered North East Small Finance Bank and announcing a merger with NESFB to expand financial accessibility. Slice has raised $340 million to date and was valued at over $1.5 billion during its Series C in November 2021. According to reporting, its revenue jumped to around Rs 870 crore in FY23, while operating revenue grew to Rs 283.08 crore in FY22 from Rs 67.7 crore in FY21. Losses widened to Rs 253.67 crore in FY22, reflecting increased operating losses. Gunosy Capital is reported as the largest shareholder with a 14.84% stake and co-founder Rajan Bajaj holds 8.21%. Slice offers credit-card features including rewards, 2% cashback, and a buy-now-pay-later option with merchants such as Amazon and MakeMyTrip. Launched in 2019 and headquartered in Bengaluru, the startup serves over 12 million Indians and is issuing roughly 300,000–400,000 cards per month. Recently it added UPI support to drive daily engagement; the UPI product is reported to be gaining strong early traction. Slice is focused on broadening its payments offerings while working to make its core credit business profitable in the coming months. The company targets underserved consumers who lack traditional credit access by using modern underwriting systems to expand card eligibility. Slice issues multiple consumer credit cards and card products aimed at tech‑savvy young professionals, and provides features such as no‑fee bill installments over three months and merchant discounts. The company uses its own underwriting system and has launched ultra‑low‑limit products (including a $27‑limit card) to reach underpenetrated segments. Slice says it issues over 200,000 cards each month, has a registered user base of over 5 million and a waitlist of more than 1 million users. The median age of its customers is 27, which the company says mirrors its team. A source quoted in the articles reported an annual revenue run rate of over $60 million. Planned product work includes adding UPI support, new card products (including a teen‑focused card) and a decentralized identity product called '&ID'; Slice is also hiring and offering new hires a three‑day week with steady pay and benefits. Slice is a Bangalore-headquartered fintech that has built a "super card" and companion app to simplify credit-card signup and usage for millennials and Gen Z. The product lowers barriers to credit for users who are often ineligible for traditional cards, offers up to 2% instant cash back, and surfaces hyperlocal restaurant deals. Slice issues credit limits from its own balance sheet and supports in-app payments including QR-code purchases, plus a bill-splitting feature that allows up to three months of interest-free payments. The company has amassed over 3 million users and says it is profitable; it also reports that more than 65% of members see credit scores climb to 730 within six months of joining. Slice says roughly 50% of new customers previously held competitor cards and that more than half of those switch Slice to be their primary card; it expects to convert over 80% to primary use in the next six to eight months. The startup recovered from pandemic-related declines, reporting May as its best month and 25% growth in June, and plans to use new funding to develop additional features.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2017

AdAsia Holdings builds AI-driven marketing and advertising solutions, centered on a matching engine that connects advertisers to publishers and influencers to brands. The company has been developing this engine since an initial Series A in April 2017 and recently closed an additional funding tranche to accelerate its work. Management plans to scale the matching engine beyond the marketing and advertising industry. AdAsia also intends to pursue video advertising technology collaborations and regional expansion via partner networks. The firm began operations in April 2016 and is Singapore-headquartered. It operates 10 offices across nine countries, employs over 170 staff and serves more than 350 clients globally. AdAsia Holdings operates the AdAsia Digital Platform, a single-dashboard solution that enables programmatic buying and reporting across display, video and native ads on desktop and mobile. The company has been building video and display ad networks that include premium publishers such as Sanook and Kapook (Thailand), YAN News (Vietnam), Kompas Gramedia Group and Kapanlagi Network (Indonesia), and Apple Daily (Taiwan). It also offers digital marketing consultants and in-house creative teams to support marketers and advertisers, and provides solutions across online advertising and influencer marketing. AdAsia began operations in April 2016 and currently has seven offices in six countries, with Shanghai soon to follow; it employs over 90 staff and serves more than 300 clients globally. The company plans to expand in China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia, establish a product development center in Vietnam, integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into existing products and future innovations, and grow headcount. The recent funding will support these expansion, product-development and hiring initiatives.

Led · Equity · Sep 2017

AdAsia is a Singapore-based ad-tech company that develops an AI engine to match advertisers with publishers and brands. The startup plans to use the new capital to accelerate development of that AI matching engine. Gunosy, a listed Japanese newsreader firm, will also provide some ad units on its mobile apps exclusively to boost AdAsia’s business. The company was founded in April 2016 by Kosuke Sogo and Otohiko Kozutsumi and operates ten offices across nine Asian countries. AdAsia says work with over 300 clients generated over $12 million in revenue last year and that it reached profitability within its first year of operations. CEO Kosuke Sogo has indicated plans to take the company public in Japan potentially as soon as next year. AdAsia provides a single digital platform that integrates real-time buying, social targeting and large exchanges such as Adwords, DoubleClick and Facebook, plus video, mobile and an influencer marketing program. The company was founded in April 2016 by CEO Kosuke Sogo and COO Otohiko Kozutsumi and is headquartered in Singapore with offices across Taiwan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Despite only a year of operations the firm reported profitability, grossing $12 million in sales between April and December 2016 and growing 20–30% month-over-month; it serves about 300 clients and is targeting $30 million in annual revenue. AdAsia currently employs around 80 staff and plans to expand headcount to roughly 400 before the end of next year. The Series A will fund regional expansion into China (Shanghai), Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan, and establish a development center in Vietnam to build machine learning and AI capabilities. Leadership is also weighing exit options, mentioning potential IPOs in Hong Kong or Japan (or possibly the U.S.) in coming years.

Led · Series B · Mar 2016

Kurio is an Indonesian news‑reader app that aggregates content from more than 200 media partners and claims roughly 600,000 downloads (about 90% on Android). The product focuses on mobile news distribution and is building a publisher dashboard and an interest/preference graph to provide richer audience data. Kurio plans to test advertising (in‑app and in‑article) with selected partners and to use data tools to help publishers monetize mobile audiences. The company has ambitions to scale across Southeast Asia (initially markets using the Roman alphabet) and ultimately pursue a public listing. Kurio has previously taken investment from CyberAgent Ventures and pursued Japanese investors during a funding trip.