Fintech Surge

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Rising trade barriers and an unstable global policy environment have led the World Bank to cut its global growth projection for 2025 to 2.3%, which is 0.4 percentage points below its January forecast. “This would mark the slowest rate of global growth since 2008, aside from outright global recessions,” the bank said in its June 2025 Global Economic Prospects report. Specific to India, the forecast is more optimistic at 6.3%.

Meanwhile, India’s government is deep in negotiations with the US to thrash out an “interim (trade) agreement by the end of the month, before Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners, including a 26% tariff on India,” Reuters reported.

Before we dive into this week’s newsletter, a quick introduction to who we are.

Lightbox is a Mumbai-born venture capital firm focused on technology-led consumer businesses. Over the past decade we’ve employed a concentrated portfolio construction and deep operational engagement to enable our portfolio companies and limited partners to navigate this market. India is moving steadily towards becoming a $10 trillion economy, driven by rising consumption and digital adoption. We believe we are uniquely positioned to offer a front-row seat to the most important shifts in the country’s consumer markets. If you’re a global capital allocator, family office, UHNI, or strategic investor looking to participate in the India opportunity—this newsletter is for you.

Let’s get into it.

📡 Signals

Is It Going To Be Fintech’s Year?

In a bid to stimulate domestic consumption and investment, India’s central bank has cut interest rates by a cumulative 100 basis points so far this year, the latest being a 50 basis points cut this month. The impact of the rate cuts on homegrown fintechs is yet to play out but optimism prevails.

Separately, after a somewhat subdued 2024, the fintech sector is seeing early signs of renewed interest from private investors. The momentum started to pick up early this year. PE/VC investments from January till date stood at $1.4 billion (Source: Tracxn), which is already nearly at half of total investments in all of 2024.

A quick roundup of notable fintech developments from this week:

• PowerUp Money, a Bengaluru-based wealthtech startup raised $7.1 million in a round led by Accel, Blume Ventures, and Kae Capital. The venture provides direct mutual fund investments with advisory services. The Indian mutual fund market, which currently has around 55 million users, is projected to double over the next few years.

• In MSME lending, Flexiloans raised ₹375 crore($45 million) in a mix of primary and secondary capital. The round was led by Fundamentum, Accion, Nuveen, and Maj Invest, with UK’s British International Investment joining as a new investor. This fundraise comes despite the fintech lending ecosystem being under regulatory scrutiny, especially in unsecured consumer lending.

• Cred, the Bengaluru-based credit platform founded by Kunal Shah, has secured ₹455 crore ($53 million) in a down round — a Series G that values the company at around $3.5–3.6 billion, nearly half of its 2022 peak valuation of $6.4 billion. The funding came from existing investors like GIC, RTP Global, and Sofina, and notably, a significant ₹162 crore infusion from Shah’s own investment arm, QED Innovation Labs.

• Finally, Pine Labs, the merchant payments and lending platform, is preparing to file its DRHP by the end of this month to raise ₹5,000–6,000 crore (~$600–720 million). For FY24, Pine Labs reported ₹1,743 crore in revenue, although it remains loss-making. Investors in the company include PayPal, Alpha Wave, and Vitruvian Partners.

• Pine Labs’ IPO plans are part of a broader pattern. Groww and PhonePe are also preparing to go public.

Earlier in the month, a slew of fintechs attracted private capital. Digital lending platform Loantap raised $6.2 million. Education financing startup GyanDhan raised Rs 50 crore. Wealthtech platform Stablemoney raises $20 million. Stock broking platform Dhan is on the road to raising $200 million and is chasing a unicorn valuation. And, neobanking startup Jupiter is in talks to raise $50 million after a four-year hiatus.

📰 Headlines

Rapid(o) Food Delivery, Short-Form Content for the Long-Haul

Micro-drama platforms Flick TV, Bullet in the spotlight

Micro-drama OTT platform Flick TV raised $2.3 million in seed funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners, as it looks to tap into the growing demand for short-form mobile-first video content in India. The Bengaluru startup will use the funds to scale content production, improve user experience, expand into regional languages, and strengthen its team. 

Zee-Entertainment Enterprises too is betting big on micro-dramas as the next frontier in Indian entertainment, revealing a strategic partnership with startup Bullet to launch a micro-drama application. Co-founded by serial entrepreneurs, Azim Lalani and Saurabh Kushwash, Bullet is designed around short-duration vertical forma delivering episodes with an emotional punch, tailored for binge-watching in short bursts.

Used car marketplace Spinny raised $30 million

Spinny, the Gurugram based used car marketplace, has closed its Series F round at $170 million, with WestBridge Capital Partners bringing in $30 million in the latest tranche. The primary capital raised in this round will be used to expand the company’s non-banking financial arm.

Avendus Capital may be acquired by Mizuho

Homegrown investment bank Avendus Capital is reportedly on the acquisition radar with its largest shareholder KKR set to exit its 60% stake. Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group is said to be intrested in buying KKR’s stake along with stakes of early investors and promoter Ranu Vohra for $700 million (Rs 6,000 crore). KKR had invested about Rs 1,000 crore in Avendus in 2015.

Rapido shifts gears with funding and food delivery foray

Ride-hailing app Rapido is making headlines on two fronts: it recently raised ₹125 crore ($15M) from Nexus Venture Partners as part of a larger round, pushing its valuation to $1.1 billion. At the same time, it's entering the food delivery market with a pilot launch of its new service, ‘Ownly’, in Bengaluru—setting its sights on challenging the Swiggy-Zomato duopoly. Rapido plans to tap into its 4 million-strong rider network to optimize idle time with virtually zero additional capex. Its flat commission model of 8–15% undercuts the 21–22% rates charged by incumbents.

Bigbasket to launch 10-Minute food delivery nationwide

Tatas-owned bigbasket is planning to launch its 10-minute food delivery service across India by the end of FY26. The company is currently piloting the service in Bengaluru and will scale it to 40 dark stores by July, its co-founder Vipul Parekh told Reuters. Parekh said it plans to increase its overall dark store count to about 1,000 to 1,200 by the end of 2025 from 700 currently. With the move, BigBasket will take on the likes of Swiggy’s SNACC, Blinkit’s Bistro, and Zepto Cafe.  

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