Bengaluru-based fintech startup Spense has successfully raised $1.85 million in a pre-seed funding round led by GrowthCap Ventures. This infusion of capital marks a major step for the company as it aims to modernize and expand India’s programmable banking and card infrastructure. The investment round also saw the participation of influential industry leaders, including Kunal Shah, founder of CRED; Sayandeb Banerjee, co-founder of The Math Company; Suresh Rayasam, Head of Applied AI for GTM; and Ravi Sudhakar, Director of AI Global Business Strategy at Microsoft.
Building the Future of Card Infrastructure
Spense focuses on enabling secured credit cards, prepaid card systems, and foreign exchange (forex) programs. The startup provides a robust backend infrastructure that supports banks and other regulated financial institutions in launching and managing innovative credit products. Its programmable banking stack accelerates time-to-market for institutions while ensuring compliance and transparency.
Founders Pawan Kumar and Srinivas Krishnamurthy bring deep expertise to the venture. Pawan previously served as the Head of Applied Science at Uber India, while Srinivas led technical teams at BNP Paribas. Their combined experience in machine learning, financial services, and enterprise-scale architecture laid a strong foundation for Spense.
Targeting Real Use Cases
Spense doesn’t just offer tech—it addresses specific, real-world problems. Traditional credit card and prepaid programs often face long development cycles, complex compliance needs, and integration difficulties with older banking systems. Spense eliminates these pain points by offering APIs, white-label dashboards, compliance modules, and integration layers that plug directly into legacy infrastructure.
By focusing on programmable infrastructure, Spense enables banks to launch new products faster. Its tools offer granular control over product parameters such as credit limits, fees, and interest rates. Financial institutions can configure and deploy their own secured credit card programs or forex offerings without starting from scratch.
Deployment with Regulated Entities
Several regulated financial entities in India already use Spense’s platform to run their secured credit card programs. These institutions benefit from a faster go-to-market timeline and simplified auditing. Spense ensures that every credit product built on its infrastructure adheres to RBI and local compliance standards, thus making it easier for banks and NBFCs to stay compliant.
In addition to supporting card issuance and management, the platform provides analytical insights and operational controls that reduce risk. Banks can track performance metrics, flag suspicious activity, and automatically adjust credit policies based on customer behavior.
Strategic Use of Funds
Spense plans to use the newly raised $1.85 million to scale its operations. The company aims to onboard more banking partners and expand its network of fintech collaborators. It will also invest heavily in engineering and product development to enhance its existing technology stack.
The roadmap includes expanding the platform to support use cases beyond secured credit cards. The team plans to add functionalities that allow the creation of other programmable financial products, such as line-of-credit systems and dynamic lending models. These additions will increase the range of services that regulated entities can offer to their customers.
Backing from Industry Leaders
Investors have recognized Spense’s potential to transform the banking infrastructure landscape. Kunal Shah, a pioneer in India’s fintech scene through ventures like CRED and FreeCharge, brings strategic insight and ecosystem knowledge. His involvement signals a strong vote of confidence in Spense’s business model and growth potential.
Other investors, such as Suresh Rayasam and Ravi Sudhakar, add deep domain knowledge in artificial intelligence and business strategy. Their guidance will prove valuable as Spense expands its product suite and explores AI-driven credit models and fraud detection tools.
India’s Fintech Landscape: A Fertile Ground
India’s rapidly evolving fintech ecosystem provides fertile ground for startups like Spense. As more consumers and businesses move to digital platforms, the demand for modern banking infrastructure continues to rise. Traditional banks and NBFCs face intense pressure to offer flexible, digital-first financial products. This demand creates an opportunity for Spense to deliver white-labeled, ready-to-deploy infrastructure.
Regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India have also shown increased openness to innovation in financial services, as long as firms meet data security and operational risk requirements. Spense positions itself as the partner that helps financial institutions meet those requirements while embracing digital transformation.
Differentiation in a Crowded Market
While India has seen the emergence of several neobanks and fintech platforms, few operate in the backend infrastructure space. Spense distinguishes itself by focusing on the middleware that connects traditional institutions with modern digital capabilities. Rather than offering direct-to-consumer services, Spense empowers other financial institutions to build and scale their own offerings.
Its emphasis on secured credit card infrastructure also taps into a large, underserved segment of consumers who lack access to unsecured credit. By enabling banks to issue secured cards quickly and efficiently, Spense helps expand credit access while mitigating lender risk.
Long-Term Vision
Spense envisions a future where programmable banking becomes the norm. The founders aim to create a unified financial infrastructure layer that banks and fintechs can use to launch any credit product with just a few lines of code. Their vision includes extending services beyond India, tapping into other emerging markets where digital banking infrastructure still faces significant limitations.
The team also intends to explore partnerships with global financial institutions, regulators, and payment networks to drive adoption of programmable infrastructure. In the long run, Spense hopes to play a central role in shaping how banks design, launch, and scale financial products in a digitally connected world.
Conclusion
With its recent $1.85 million pre-seed funding round, Spense has gained the momentum needed to scale its operations and expand its product portfolio. Backed by some of the most respected names in fintech and AI, the startup aims to become the go-to infrastructure provider for credit and prepaid card systems in India and beyond.
Its focus on regulatory compliance, modular architecture, and speed of deployment gives it a strong competitive edge. As the financial services sector embraces digital innovation, Spense stands poised to play a crucial role in modernizing how institutions build and deliver credit products.