Back in 2017, Anup Agarwal wanted to raise $2 million for funding his maiden venture Mintifi. He got rejected by 20 funds. In 2023, he raised $120 million on the back of a profitable and thriving fintech venture
Mumbai, 2017. The investment banker was bemused. “How is it possible,” wondered Anup Agarwal, who had spent eight years at Jefferies, and five years at Kotak Investment Banking. Now, when he was taking the entrepreneurial plunge, the greenhorn met with a spate of stunning rejections. “Are they serious,” the chartered accountant pondered as he tried to make some sense of the “utter nonsense” that was happening around him. “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 dollar, stitched innumerable mergers and acquisition deals, and closed countless high-ticket transactions.
(This story appears in the 12 January, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)