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My first job out of Berkeley was in enterprise integration, where we connected complex systems like ERP and supply chain platforms, within and across companies, to ultimately deliver a smoother end user experience. That was where I first understood and appreciated both the importance and, in some ways, the beauty of infrastructure. The end user rarely sees it, but the quality of the experience depends enormously on what sits underneath. Fast forward to our fintech investing at Better Capital. Soon after developing our neobanking thesis, it became very clear to us that there was an infrastructure layer that was largely independent of the end user experience, but absolutely necessary to enable it. If India was going to build a new generation of financial services for hundreds of millions of smartphone connected users, someone had to solve the complexity underneath: how fintechs connect with banks, how products get issued and managed, how regulatory requirements are handled, how money moves, and how all of these systems work together reliably. That led us quite naturally into fintech infrastructure investing. We started asking a simple question: what is the underlying infrastructure required for all these new financial experiences to exist? Because whether it was neobanking, new age credit cards, app based lending, investing, wealth management, or many of the experiences that followed, there was almost always a sophisticated infrastructure layer underneath making the product possible. That thesis has played out quite well. M2P was one of our earliest investments in the space. It has gone on to power some of the largest fintech experiences in India, expand into multiple markets globally, and continue scaling significantly. Upswing is another example. It is building the infrastructure behind some of the fastest growing investment and wealth fintechs, enabling products such as fixed deposits, bonds, and other investment experiences to be embedded seamlessly into consumer platforms. Hyperface has done some remarkable work in cards, building infrastructure that allows brands and financial institutions to launch and operate deeply integrated credit card experiences in a way that was much harder to do earlier. And these are just a few examples. We have invested in several companies across the financial infrastructure stack over the years. What the last six or seven years have reinforced for us is that in financial services, some of the most important companies may sit one layer below the consumer experience. The more regulated and operationally complex the product, the more valuable that infrastructure becomes. And perhaps most importantly, we have seen that infrastructure built for the complexity and scale of India can increasingly travel well beyond India. What continues to excite me is that I don’t think this thesis is anywhere close to being played out. As financial services become more digital, more embedded, more personalized, and increasingly powered by software and AI, the infrastructure underneath them will become even more important. New consumer experiences will require new infrastructure, and new infrastructure will, in turn, make entirely new experiences possible. Over the last six or seven years, we have seen the beginnings of that in India. I believe some very large financial infrastructure companies will be built here, and several of them should have the opportunity to power financial experiences well beyond India as well. That remains one of the areas I am most excited about. *The second of a five-part series by Vaibhav Domkundwar explores the fintech infrastructure layer powering new financial experiences. Investments in M2P, Upswing, and Hyperface reinforced the thesis that the real opportunity often lies underneath the consumer-facing product. The next three parts will explore other microtrends and lessons.
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