This week saw the launch of “Thrive for Fintech”, an investment programme focused on Financial Inclusion. Green Shores Capital (my fund) have partnered with Crowdcube for this and it is sponsored by Deloitte. The applicants will be funnelled through a competitive evaluation criteria and six of them will be shortlisted. Via this initiative, we will identify and invest in up to three top Fintech firms.

This is the programme page, that talks about the criteria in detail

“Successful applicants will also receive a legal support package to cover areas such as company structure, employment and incentives, data and IP, as well as receiving exclusive access to an online platform with a host of free legal resources. All finalists will also be invited along to a legal workshop that is specifically tailored to Fintech businesses.

Lastly, the successful applicants will also receive an accounting support package from Deloitte finance experts, covering areas such as raising investment and financial strategy. Along with a free, bespoke online accounting package and customised analytics dashboard.”

So how did this happen?

All three partners at Green Shores, Deepak Ahuja, Banesh Prabhu and yours truly, have all had decades of Financial services experience. We have had years of global exposure and have seen real world challenges especially in Emerging markets due to lack of Financial Services at the last mile. When we set up Green Shores earlier this year, we identified Financial Inclusion as a core theme for our investment thesis.  

We have made several investments through our previous fund in this space and want to further this cause via Green Shores. This was and is critical as many use cases we see in the UK and in the west are focused on impactful themes, however in order to create impact at scale they need to expand into emerging markets. 2.7 Billion people in the world live outside the conventional financial services system.

This programme also demonstrates that its critical to bring together multiple ecosystem players to create meaningful impact. And we believe, this is a model that can be replicated across different innovation clusters where there is a dire need for capital.

Access to capital is not a goal in itself – it is a means to end poverty and economically empower people – the first step towards achieving healthcare and education, a means to help grow enterprises and create jobs, a means to tackle unemployment, and so much more. 

Arunkumar Krishnakumar is a Venture Capital investor at Green Shores Capital focusing on Inclusion and a podcast host.

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