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Neobank Jupiter secures NBFC license 

The Reserve Bank of India has granted a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license to neobanking platform Jupiter as the company looks to foray into the lending segment.

The startup will offer loans under Amica Financial Technologies, the private entity that operates Jupiter, Founder Jitendra Gupta told Moneycontrol.

The neobank offers digital banking accounts and allows users to deposit and withdraw funds besides debit and credit cards facility in partnership with banks.

The platform, which offered small ticket loans in partnership with NBFCs under Loan Service Providers (LSP) model, can now lend via its own NBFC books to the tune of Rs 50,000 up to Rs 1 lakh. 

Backed by Tiger Global, QED Investors, Sequoia India, and Matrix Partners, Jupiter recently raised Rs 100 crore in venture debt from Alteria Capital. The startup said it would use the funds to scale and expand lending products in India. “We are infusing our own equity of Rs 100 crore and will be raising an equivalent of debt from banks,” he said.

InCred Capital enters equity capital markets; hires new leadership

Incred Capital, the institutional, wealth, and asset management arm of financial services firm InCred Group, has now expanded into the equity capital markets business. Further, it appointed Prateek Indwar as Managing Director – Head of Capital Markets, and Hitesh Mandot – Managing Director, Corporate Finance. 

The company aims to become a partner to clients looking to raise capital by bridging the gap between providers and issuers of capital through innovative ECM solutions, deep expertise, and a highly experienced management team, it said in a statement. 

Led by Founder Bhupinder Singh, the group is backed by prominent investors, including KKR, TRS, ADIA, Investcorp, Oaks, Moore Capital, Elevar Equity, Paragon Partners, Ranjan Pai, and Gaurav Dalmia, among others. 

The group enjoys a prominent position in the retail lending business through InCred Finance—its flagship tech-led NBFC.

Tech fund SilverNeedle Ventures onboards Viiveck Verma as strategic advisor, partner

SilverNeedle Ventures (SNV), an early-stage technology focused-fund has hired Viiveck Verma, Founder and CEO of Upsurge Global as a strategic advisor and venture partner. 

Founded by former Xseed Partners co-founders—Ajay Jain and Deepesh Agarwal—SilverNeedle was launched in October last year with a fund size of Rs 100 crore. It aims to invest in pre-Series A/Series A round of early-stage startups focused on B2B SaaS, D2C/consumer internet, sustainability, fintech, deeptech, generative AI, and others. Its current portfolio includes names like Disprz, Knorish, Samaaro, ThingsUp, and Doqfy.

In his new position, Verma—who previously held leadership positions in Srinivasa Farms, Karvy Group, Galileo, IBM-Daksh, DHL, and BPL Mobile—will look after strategy on brand building, fundraising, and partnership.

Saumitra Kumar becomes new engineering, product, data head at G.O.A.T Brand Labs

D2C brands aggregator platform G.O.A.T Brand Labs has appointed Saumitra Kumar as the Head of Engineering, Product, and Data.

Founded in 2021 by Rishi Vasudev and Rameswar Misra, G.O.A.T acquires and scales digitally-native brands in the lifestyle space, providing them with inbuilt capabilities in operations, warehousing, finance, brand building, along with the leadership team.

It currently has about 20 brands in its portfolio. The platform is looking to further boost its capabilities on the tech front to scale acquired brands in India and globally, it said in a statement.

“In my new role, I will be working with the team to create a suite of tech products that can help our brands grow exponentially. I will also be driving product-led growth and data science initiatives to scale the brands,” said Kumar, whose previous stints include Amazon, Verizon, and Sears Holding Corporations.

(This article will be updated with the latest news throughout the day.)