Fund & Thesis

We are a leading early-stage tech venture capital fund backing founders building next-gen enterprise software for the Financial Services industry; leveraging AI and deep technologies. The fund has completed initial investments in Cogniquest and WonderLend Hubs, both disruptive solutions that address large opportunities in Banking and Financial Services and beyond.

The fund thesis is built on the legacy of Cedar Consulting and IBS Intelligence – a platform that brings together over 70 years of technology consulting and research experience with banks and technology players globally.

Our Founder and GP, Sahil Anand, is credited for being the creator of the region’s only FinTech Lab and accelerator, which since 2017 has successfully nurtured 60+ FinTechs in helping them scale and expand across the region (www.cedaribsifintechlab.com).

Not many investors understand Financial-Services-Technology as deeply as we do. The fund is dedicated to backing FinTech infrastructure companies, powered by the expertise and track-record of our FinTech Lab’s sucess. Our unique edge is in our ability to deliver transformational value to founders—combining the team’s experience with the Cedar legacy platform’s 70+ years of practitioner and domain expertise. We make capital work like no other.

The fund is independently structured, follows a classic LP-GP model, and is backed by leading institutional and family office investors across the region.

B2B enterprise software focus

Core to the evolution of the global Financial Services ecosystem
Strong legacy and credibility via the 60+ year research and consulting track-record in this space
Focus on profitable and scalable technology businesses with clear unit economics

Significant founder value-add

Subject matter expertise
Access to mentors at Cedar and IBS Intelligence
CTO and wider Banking network
RFPs via the Cedar-IBSi FinTech Labs
Visibility with the right audience
Global expansion and GTM support

In-house FinTech Labs

Track-record and credibility in assisting 60+ players scale since 2017
Marketplace model and cohort programs help FinTechs boost growth across areas
Multi-region labs between Europe, the Middle East, and India
$890 mn+ successfully raised by past and current lab members

Super-specialist expertise

Built on a legacy of transforming enterprise software for 300+ banks globally
Built on a legacy of advising 500+ global tech players on product, growth, and market strategy
Proprietary research and data on emerging and established players. 5,000+ companies scanned annually

Deep ecosystem access

1-1 relationships with industry veteran founders
70+ opportunities screened weekly
Proprietary emerging player directories
FinTech Labs with regular cohorts
Global research across software types
15+ in-house annual summits and conferences

Strong fund manager network

Access to established strategic players globally
Access to banks and financial services players across the region
Associations with key industry bodies

Multiple global banking software companies have scaled in our FinTech Labs. An area of our core expertise and right to win.

Software and Banking veterans with complimentary skillsets, building product-oriented companies. Strong unit economics and a path to profitability are natural.

We enter early-stage but at revenue-stage when at least 1-2 paying enterprise clients exist. This mitigates some risk. Additionally, our ability to value-create and supercharge GTM is unique. This excites us.

Enterprise software for Financial Services is geography agnostic. Our ability to take portfolio companies to dollar-revenue markets such as the Middle East and Europe is a key investment factor.