A winter of funding ends with Mintifi raising $120 million after 20 rejections

Anup Agarwal was seeking funding for the launch of his first venture Mintifi in 2017. Twenty funds rejected him. With a profitable and thriving fintech venture, he raised $120 million in 2023

“How is it possible,” wondered Anup Agarwal, who had spent eight years at Jefferies, and five years at Kotak Investment Banking. “Guys, what I am asking for is just $2 million,” the rookie founder pleaded his case and flaunted his enviable background where he helped umpteen founders raise millions of venture and private equity dollars, stitched innumerable mergers and acquisition deals, and closed countless high-ticket transactions. 

For close to two decades, Agarwal wielded power, framed the rules of the game, and adjudged the winners during his investment banking career. “I don’t think your startup can ever mint money,” snubbed one of the VCs. Mintifi, a B2B supply chain financing firm that was started by Agarwal, Ankit Mehta, and Sanjoy Shome in 2017, had so far managed to run the show by using half a million dollars that Agarwal had pumped into the business.

After almost a year of bootstrapped life, Mintifi now needed venture money to grow. Though the idea behind Mintifi was freshly minted, the funding pitch unfortunately was viewed by the VCs from a stale lens: Yet another fintech, yet another NBFC, and yet another clone in a cluttered market.

It had just been four months since Mintifi closed the Series C round of funding of $40 million in February 2022, and now the founder was again out in the market to raise a new round. In a business where the core raw material happens to be money, Mintifi needed more money to keep the rocket cruising.

The second reason to raise back-to-back rounds of money stemmed from macro factors. The following month, in July, it was the turn of Europe’s highest-valued startup to face the heat. It had just been four months since the last fundraiser. 

What happened to the capital that you raised in the last round…,” were the questions hurled at Agarwal, who answered them to the best of his abilities. After a month, the founder saw some interest from a section of VCs. But the needle didn’t move. What do you expect,” they tried to reason with the founder who had reportedly raised the Series C round in February at a $150-million valuation.

Agarwal, though, had valid reasons to ask for more. Mintifi had grown 2. 5x in just five months. Two months later, in September 2022, Mintifi was swamped with inbound offers at a much higher valuation. Within four months, Mintifi closed its Series D round of $120 million in March 2023.

Mintifi, the rating agency pointed out in June, operates with a differentiated business model that has a greater focus on funding large corporates with an established track record. Mintifi, the note underlines, partners with corporates and offers supply chain financing (SCF) across its distribution network.

“Resultantly, the consolidated asset under management has grown to ₹1,183 crore as of March 31, 2023, from ₹141 crore in March 31, 2021,” it points out, adding that Mintifi caters to a vast end-user base from multiple industries. “I have known Anup Agarwal since 2012, and had immense respect for his entrepreneurial instincts, huge vision, and ability to execute,” says the managing director at Norwest India.

 As the startup scales in its journey, the investor points out the likely challenge, it would face in competition from traditional banks and larger NBFCs. Meanwhile, Agarwal tells us why, despite raising a $100 million-plus funding round, he can’t be casual in his approach.

We were just very lucky to get the funding,” he says, adding that the industry has many performers, and they are not the only ones who dazzled with their metrics. Minting money, after all, is what will lead to more funding, higher valuation, and an expansive business.

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