Spense raises $2.8M seed to rewire India's credit infrastructure
What's the deal? SpenseDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an Indian banking infrastructure startup, has raised $2.8 million in seed funding led by Arkam VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
Razorpay Ventures, GrowthCap VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Atrium VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → joined the round, alongside angels Kunal ShahDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Madhusudhan E.
Founded by Pawan Kumar and Srinivas Krishnamurthy, Spense lets banks issue credit cards and credit lines backed by customer assets such as fixed deposits, mutual funds, and equities.
Its platform pairs asset-backed credit infrastructure with agentic AI to automate onboarding, servicing, collections, and support.
Why now? Spense already partners with seven banks across India, including one of the country's largest public sector lenders.
It powers more than 200,000 active cards and issues over 40,000 monthly — nearly 8% of India's monthly credit card issuance.
The fresh capital will deepen banking partnerships, expand engineering and go-to-market teams, and launch Credit Line on UPI.
The signal: Backing from CRED founder Kunal ShahDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — one of India's most closely watched fintech operators — alongside Arkam VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → signals conviction that asset-backed lending is where the country's credit market is heading. For an early-stage startup already accounting for nearly 8% of India's monthly credit card issuance across seven bank partnerships, the planned Credit Line on UPI launch could push that infrastructure play further into the mainstream.
Read more: The Economic Times
Image credit: Artem Beliaikin
