Spark Growth Ventures

#SGVGlobalCommunity #IndoUSPartnership #IndiaVisit Recently returned from my first trip to India in 13 years and it was truly incredible. I got to reconnect with friends, family and Spark Growth Ventures partners & community members, while also witnessing the tremendous progress across infrastructure (physical & digital), commerce and innovation. What stood out even more was how India has preserved the warmth, spirituality and social fabric that make its culture so unique. Of course, challenges like pollution, congestion and poverty remain but the strides made in the last decade are undeniably impressive. With the shifting global order, India is uniquely positioned to benefit. Its open culture, large educated workforce, global diaspora, favorable geography, growing middle class and democratic values all make it a strong player for the decades ahead. And India not only has the capacity but also the historical precedence for this. Historian William Dalrymple captures this perspective in his new book, The Golden Road, where he describes India as “a crucial economic fulcrum and civilizational engine” and “one of the main motors of global trade and cultural transmission” of the ancient and early medieval world. He highlights India’s foundational role in global progress across math, religion (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism), medicine, astronomy, art & more. The ongoing US-China decoupling offers India major opportunities in supply chains, innovation, research, defense, education and tourism. I also had the privilege of connecting with several inspiring leaders shaping this journey: Pankaj Makkar & Rohit Sood of Bertelsmann India Investments (a leading India-based fund & Skeps co-investor), Aditya Kandoi & Rohit Jalan of Redcliffe Labs (leading Indian Dx lab chain & an SGV portco since 2022), Manmeet Ahluwalia, (world's leading brain oncologist, Baptist Health), Tarundeep Suri (Global Head of Supply Chain, United Airlines), Parvinder Walia (President of APJ, ESET), Akshay Ghulati (CEO, X-Border Commerce at ShiprocketX, an Indian unicorn) and my IIT Delhi batchmates – Rajeev Singh (SAP Country Head – Corporates for India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh), Shobhan Agarwal (CFO, Bay Area startups) & Shantanu Mathur (Business Head, BigShyft). Every conversation reinforced the excitement & conviction behind India’s momentum. And as a great coincidence, I bumped into Mukesh Aghi at IGI & EWR. He's the President & CEO of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum & a leading force for the US/Indo collaboration. SGV has already backed 3 companies with strong India ties — Redcliffe, edisn.ai (acquired by fuboTV Network) & Skeps — & we’re excited to keep building x-border collaborations with Indian startups. Safa Mahzari Alessio Sanfilippo Daniel Lambert Gaurav Bhatia Jaikaran Sawhny Jeffrey Haux Kimberly Davis King Marcos Rivera Pooja Skogstad Raj Pudipeddi Rohit Gulati Vittal Kadapakkam Dheeraj Jain Ashok Karanth Akshay Chandrasekhar Tushar Srivastava

#Rain #75M #SeriesB   Glad to announce our follow-on in the $75M Series B of Rain led by Prosus Group, with participation from Nextalia SGR, QED Investors and Invus Opportunities. Rain has displayed continued strong momentum since our first investment last year and we are delighted to double down on our partnership with Alex Bradford, Andreas Penna, Frederic Choquette, Jen Terrell and the whole team. More on the raise in TechCrunch: https://lnkd.in/gNiAhsqM With a mission is to enhance individual freedom by giving people control over their income & finances by replacing predatory financial products like payday loans & overdraft fees, Rain was founded in late 2019 as a culmination of a partnership between Alex, successful serial entrepreneur with two fintech exits, and Matt Burton (formerly with QED Investors). Alex was soon joined by strong several players -- Jen, Fred and Andreas. Read more about Alex's inspiration here: https://lnkd.in/gtu-HZG6 Traditional pay cycles often serve as a barrier to increasing savings & achieving financial well-being, and it is estimated that Americans spend >$170B waiting for their next paychecks. Rain’s financial wellness platform provides them convenient access to their hard-earned wages in real-time, whenever they work instead of waiting until payday. Rain’s pay-on-demand feature can be used by the employees to get paid daily by paying a small fee with each transaction, offering them greater control over their finances and helps them avoid overdraft fees and high-interest loans. Rain also adheres to the highest compliance standards and meets guidelines set by CFPB, making it one of the safest EWA providers available. Rain is also one of the most seamless and data-minimalistic EWA providers in the market, integrating easily with timekeeping and payroll systems and requiring the least amount of data to use. Rain already supports over 2M employees and partners with some of the largest employers across the U.S. Its momentum and impact is reflected in  the company achieving top-tier revenue and scalability metrics & customer satisfaction scores (4.7-4.8 stars across ~25K reviews on #Appstore & #GooglePlay each). The new funding will help Rain scale its reach & expand its product suite to support more aspects of worker financial health. Beyond instant access to earnings, Rain is building toward a broader vision of empowering workers to achieve financial stability and save proactively without relying on EWA. Spark Growth Ventures, Safa Mahzari, Alessio Sanfilippo, Daniel Lambert, Gaurav Bhatia, Jaikaran Sawhny, Jeffrey Haux, Kimberly Davis King, Marcos Rivera, Pooja Skogstad, Raj Pudipeddi, Rohit Gulati, Vittal Kadapakkam, Diwakar Rao

Big News... We’re proud to announce that Skeps has successfully closed our Series B funding round! 🎉 This is a major milestone in our journey—and it wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible work, vision, and dedication of our team. We’re thrilled to welcome Spark Growth Ventures as a new partner in this round, alongside the continued support of our trusted investors Accel and Bertelsmann India Investments. Their confidence in Skeps is a powerful validation of the platform we’re building and the impact we’re making in the lending ecosystem. With this new capital, we’re ready to: 📈 Scale our operations  🔥 Deepen market penetration  🔧 Innovate relentlessly This funding will accelerate our momentum as we continue to reimagine how lending works—delivering smarter, more seamless financial experiences for businesses and consumers alike. To our team: This win is yours. Your commitment and creativity fuel everything we do. Thank you for being part of this mission. 💙

We're excited to announce today that we raised $75 million in an all-equity Series B round, led by Prosus Group (Naspers) with other investors Nextalia SGR, Spark Growth Ventures and existing investors including QED Investors, Invus Opportunities, and others. Thank you Jagmeet Singh at TechCrunch for publishing an article about the round. Rain's mission is to empower everyone to reach financial freedom. We are building the employee engagement app of the future, centered around financial wellness. Rain has become the new gold standard in earned wage access (EWA) and the one-stop-shop app for financial wellness products designed to serve a diverse range of employees. I am deeply grateful for our A+ team and a mission-driven culture (excellence, customer obsession, urgency, radical candor, and empathy). Thank you Jen Terrell, Andreas Penna, Frederic Choquette, Mario Almeida, Tom Scanlon, Rodolphe Mulliez, Kate Meakem Hartford, Declan Schweitzer, Zach Kyte, José Lourenço, Jay Hobson, Venugopal Narayanabhatla, Nick Tate, Michelle Bonavitacola, Elizabeth McAlpin, Jesse Kyriazis, Tamara Sheehan, SHRM-CP, Clay Bentley, Shohan Rahman, Kelly Christy, Darbie Bredemeier, Ribs, G, Ryan Taylor, Ashley Begley, Isaac Winsor, Irene Martin, Matt Burton and many, many others at Rain Nation. Tamo Junto! Thank you to our terrific investors Ali Esfahani, Aaron W., Attilio Mazzilli, Federico Lonoce, Adams Conrad, Nigel Morris, Frank Rotman, David Kahane, Ben Tsai, Sacha Lainovic, Sebastian Gschwender, and others - thank you for your support! and last but not least, thank you Terence Kelly and the team at Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Now on to the new chapter, LET'S GO!!! #earnedwageaccess #financialwellness #fintech #employeebenefits

Our research on canine splenic hemangiosarcoma has been named among the Top 10 Most-Cited Papers in Veterinary and Comparative Oncology in 2023! Hemangiosarcoma is one of the most aggressive cancers affecting dogs, representing one of the greatest unmet needs in veterinary oncology. Our research has identified key genomic alterations linked to survival and clinical outcomes. By connecting these genomic features with clinical variables such as age, breed, and metastasis, we are paving the way for more precise prognostic markers and targeted therapies in veterinary oncology. Click here to read our paper! https://lnkd.in/dy8JPRwz FidoCure® Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Timothy Estabrooks, DVM, DACVIM (Oncology), Anastasia Gurinovich, Jodie Pietruska, Benjamin Lewis, Garrett Harvey, Gerry Post, Lindsay Lambert, Aubrey Miller, Lucas Rodrigues, Michelle White, Cheryl London, Kate Megquier

Some nice recognition - @Placer.ai has earned a spot on @Forbes and @Statista’s 2025 ranking of America’s Best Startup Employers. https://lnkd.in/gPqdgjVH

🚀 Big news! Luna has been ranked #61 on Forbes’ 2025 Best Startup Employers list—jumping up 50 spots from last year! 🎉 ✅ #1 in MSK care ✅ #3 in Healthcare ✅ 1.2M+ in-home PT visits & counting Luna is redefining PT with a patient-first, tech-powered approach—delivering in-home, hands-on care that increases adherence and improves outcomes. With major partnerships and a growing provider network, we’re transforming patient care, one visit at a time. Read more: https://hubs.la/Q03cCTJ_0 #GetLuna #PhysicalTherapy #HealthcareInnovation #Forbes #BestStartupEmployers

🦄 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘁: 𝗥𝗼𝗸𝗼 • Founded: 2019 (just 6 years ago) • Revenue: $615M • EBITDA Margin: 22% (yes, profitable!) • Growth: 5-year revenue CAGR – 157% • IPO Valuation: $3B Plot twist? 𝗜𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄. The IPO is purely for investor liquidity. Oh, and the number of times the listing circular mentions GenAI? 𝗭𝗲𝗿𝗼. 😏 Old-school business fundamentals still work. Who knew? 🤔 So, what’s the magic formula? 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. See more https://lnkd.in/eQaxyvdC If you are curious how Astra Holding Group is building a 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗿, reach out to me or Sergey Sushentsev

I’m honored to be included in Inc. Magazine's 2025 #FemaleFounders500, a recognition of the most inspiring female leaders in America. From my early days on Wall Street to advancing veterinary oncology at FidoCure® my journey is a testament to how personal loss can fuel a transformative, industry-first approach to treating cancer in dogs—one of the most urgent unmet needs in animal health. Through our work, we’ve ▪️built the world’s largest clinico-genomic database, with over 2 billion data points from more than 6,000 dogs with naturally occurring cancers ▪️developed the world’s first portfolio of targeted canine cancer therapies ▪️and decoded canine cancer to radically improve how we treat the millions of dogs battling cancer with our AI engine, Fetch™ We’re turning canine cancer into a second chance at life with our best-in-class molecules and this recognition is a testament to our impact. Congratulations to all the incredible female founders on this year's list! https://lnkd.in/gXxuXgzc

Exciting news! Humanly (humanly.io) has been nominated for Workplace of the Year at the 2025 GeekWire Awards! 🎉 Building an exceptional workplace of course isn’t just about perks—it’s about fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and inclusion. I’m incredibly proud of the team we’ve built at Humanly and the impact we’re making together. I look at building culture like building product. Product of old was something you installed once and never was touched - like cultures of old. Today, culture building is more like SaaS software, you're constantly iterating based on a roadmap and feedback from customers (employees in this case - past, present and future) while staying true to the vision. Community voting is now open through March 23rd—we’d love your support! 🔗 Vote here: https://lnkd.in/gxnfNv7R ✅ Huge thanks to GeekWire for the recognition! #GeekWireAwards