QED Investors, a leading boutique venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage, disruptive financial services companies, announced that it has entered the Indian and Southeast Asian market, hiring Sandeep Patil to lead its investments within the region.
With the addition of Sandeep, QED will expand its global footprint, adding India and Southeast Asia to its existing work in North America, South America and the United Kingdom.
Founded in 2007, QED Investors has invested in more than 120 companies, including 13 unicorns, and has more than $1.8 billion under management. Notable investments include Nubank, SoFi, Credit Karma, Klarna, GreenSky, Avant, Flywire, Remitly, QuintoAndar, Creditas, ClearScore, and Konfio.
Commenting on the development, Nigel Morris, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors, said, “India alone has a massive internet user base of over 560 million individuals. Couple that with a steep decline in the price of mobile data, the rapidly rising middle class with corresponding financial needs and a supportive regulatory infrastructure and you have an ecosystem ripe for disruption. QED has evaluated entering the Asian continent closely and we are excited to welcome Sandeep to help us invest in the best fintech companies the market has to offer.”
Sandeep adds significant depth in both areas. He helped launch consumer and SME lending business at Flipkart and contributed to the company’s fundraise and eventual sale to Walmart. He was the Managing Director and CEO for India at Truecaller where he directed Adtech, Payments, FinTech, SME/Enterprise and Developer businesses, which doubled the company’s revenues and achieved net income profitability despite the pandemic.
Sandeep brings deep consumer credit roots from Capital One in the US and the UK, and has served global investors, banks and insurers at McKinsey & Co. Sandeep will apply QED’s rigorous, hypothesis-driven approach to identify early-stage fintech investment opportunities that are well-positioned in the marketplace.
“There is immense opportunity for QED in the Indian and Southeast Asian ecosystem. I have long admired and identified with QED’s fintech expertise and how the firm leverages operator experience to help founders and CEOs build successful, disruptive companies,” commented Sandeep. “I’m thrilled to join the team and excited to work with the next generation of fintech unicorns on the Asian continent.”
Additionally, with Sandeep, QED has recruited Camila Key Saruhashi as a Principal based in San Francisco and Adams Conrad as a Principal in New York. Camila will strengthen QED’s presence in the Bay Area and will focus on US investments. Adams will expand QED’s formation-stage investment platform, Belay, which forms and builds fintech companies from the ground up. Both come to QED with strong fintech operating backgrounds.
Camila has prior experience leading a team of more than 300 people as head of operations at Nubank – a QED portfolio company – and in product development and strategy at Earnin. Adams worked in relationship management at Quovo, and at Plaid where he led the wealth vertical, built channel and strategic partnerships, and helped a breadth of fintech clients grow and scale.
“Following QED’s $350M fundraise in February, QED has the wind at its back. We are seeing immense positive deal selection from extraordinary companies seeking QED for our fintech expertise and operator experience. Camila and Adams bring years of fintech operating experience and will play a critical role in helping us evaluate and lead investment opportunities while serving as consiglieres to our portfolio company CEOs,” added Nigel Morris.
QED Investors invests in early-stage, disruptive financial services companies in North America, South America, and the United Kingdom. QED is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages its partners’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping companies achieve breakthrough growth.
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