ResilienceVC, a brand new seed-stage fintech enterprise capital agency primarily based out of Washington, D.C., is saying its $56 million debut fund, the agency shared completely with TechCrunch.
Founded by Tahira Dosani and Vikas Raj in 2023, ResilienceVC’s mission is a simple one: to again fintech corporations devoted to serving to Americans discover monetary stability. It’s writing checks into corporations that may assist folks deal with challenges reminiscent of turning into householders, getting reasonably priced insurance coverage and accessing authorities advantages.
“We make investments fully in visionary startup entrepreneurs which can be leveraging new applied sciences and new enterprise fashions finally to drive monetary resilience for all Americans,” Raj stated. “For many Americans, the monetary system is simply not doing what it’s alleged to do.”
The pair have a historical past of investing in corporations that assist enhance monetary inclusion. They beforehand labored collectively for a number of years as former co-managing administrators at Accion Venture Lab earlier than leaving to begin ResilienceVC. Examples of their achievements embody Dosani serving to launch Afghanistan’s first cell funds platform whereas on the bottom within the nation and Raj founding a microlending firm in Bangalore, India, which sparked his curiosity in microfinance and led him to put money into fintech.
In their greater than eight years investing at Accion, a world seed-stage fintech investor within the U.S. and in growing markets, the duo invested in over 50 corporations, together with a lot of unicorns. Dosani and Raj have been elevating capital for ResilienceVC’s first fund for about 18 months, with the ultimate shut going down in late 2024.
ResilienceVC plans to make 25 investments out of the fund, which the pair described as “oversubscribed” with an preliminary goal of $50 million. Portfolio corporations embody Alice, Chaiz, EarlyBird, Foyer, Mirza, OS Benefits, PartnerSlate, and Suma, amongst others. Initial funding per firm is round $1 million. To date, 75% — or six out of eight — of its portfolio corporations are underrepresented founders.
“We anticipate to observe on in roughly 50% of our corporations, trying to double our stake of their subsequent spherical,” Dosani stated. “That will rely on portfolio efficiency however we’ll be doubling down on our winners.”
The agency’s restricted companions are a mix of establishments, banks, household workplaces, high-net-worth people and foundations and embody MetLife, Skoll Foundation, and Ally Financial, amongst others.
Notably, ResilienceVC is deliberately headquartered out of D.C. Raj advised TechCrunch, in order that it may possibly leverage its location and relationships with regulators and policymakers.
“We suppose it’s an necessary place to be in case you’re investing in fintech specifically. This is a time of nice change, practically every day change, within the regulatory atmosphere and the coverage atmosphere,” he added. “I believe it’s very clear that everybody in monetary companies must have deep connections to decisionmakers, regulators, coverage makers, company heads. And that’s very true of startups. So we place ourselves right here in D.C. as a conduit to these entities.”
Dosani additionally believes that being positioned outdoors Silicon Valley offers the agency a vantage level to see “the rising variety of founders who’re working in different cities across the nation.”
Overall, with ResilienceVC, the pair are hoping to buck a pattern that we’ve seen in fintech investing: companies targeted on high-net-worth clients or giant enterprises.
Too typically, low to reasonable revenue or American small companies are simply thought of “too small, too dangerous, and too onerous to get in entrance of to serve,” leaving “a extremely massive hole for…buyers which can be targeted on the startups which can be utilizing new applied sciences, reminiscent of AI and embedded fintech, “to construct massive worthwhile companies whereas constructing for everyone,” Raj advised TechCrunch.
“We wish to sit in that hole — and make investments completely in the most effective fintech startups which can be explicitly serving the mass market,” he stated.
