EP#42 Anubhav Jain – Building Rupifi, learnings from Seed to Series A and why speed matters at early stage startups

The VCpreneur: Startups | Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Fundraising

In this episode, Anubhav Jain (Co-founder & CEO@ Rupifi), joins our host Digjay, to talk about his path leading up to founding Rupifi, the recent positives & challenges faced by the SMEs, what is embedded finance & it's use cases, Rupifi’s embedded cash-flow based lending model, importance of speed at early stage startups, what founders should optimize for - between Seed & Series A rounds, role of early stage investors in raising subsequent funding rounds & more.

Rupifi is a fintech startup that helps MSMEs find suitable financing on different digital B2B platforms and marketplaces using an embedded cash-flow based lending model. Prior to founding Rupifi, Anubhav was the Co-Founder & Head of Risk at Qbera, a personal loan marketplace startup that was later acquired by InCred. Anubhav is a 3-time founder with a strong background in credit risk management & has worked at companies like American Express & Razorpay. An IIM Indore alum, Anubhav is also an occasional angel investor. You can connect with him here on Linkedin/Twitter.

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Show notes –

1. (01:22) Anubhav’s background & path leading up to Rupifi
2. (05:12) Recent positives & challenges in the Indian MSME sector
3. (12:24) How Rupifi’s cash-flow based embedded lending model solves some of these challenges?
4. (17:10) Embedded finance & its use cases
5. (24:12) Rupifi’s approach towards building an MVP & achieving PMF; Why speed matters at early stage startups?
6. (30:49) Fundraising experience at Rupifi; What should founders optimize for in between Seed & Series A rounds?
7. (38:43) Role of early stage investors in helping startups raise subsequent funding rounds
8. (43:18) How has being a 3-time founder influenced Anubhav’s personality over the years?
9. (45:08) Rapid fire and closing remarks

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