Investor Profile: Better Capital — The Day-Zero Believers Behind India's Fintech Breakouts

Investment thesis

Better Capital "backs bold innovators on day zero." Founded in 2018, it is a micro-venture fund built on one conviction — that the best returns come from backing gritty founders at the very beginning. Founder Vaibhav Domkundwar is a market-first investor: his test is whether he understands the market and can see a path to sales. Product pedigree matters, but "sales matters the most." Teams must clear a high bar, yet the firm writes the first cheque when a startup is little more than two founders and a stubborn belief.

Sectors and stages

The firm invests at pre-seed, seed and pre-Series A, and is deliberately sector-agnostic — fintech, SaaS, edtech, consumer, the creator economy and cleantech have all received cheques. The common thread is ambition: category-defining businesses building for India, or from India for the world. Fintech infrastructure and SaaS are the centre of gravity, though the fund keeps a dedicated climate thesis.

Fund size and cheque size

Better Capital closed its maiden institutional fund at $15.28 million in November 2021, targeting 40-50 pre-seed and seed investments with a median cheque of $300,000. Earlier first cheques typically ranged from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore, depending on round size and stage. Beyond the maiden fund, total assets under management are not publicly disclosed.

Notable portfolio companies

The portfolio spans more than 200 companies. Standouts include neobank Open, credit-card disruptor Slice, fintech infrastructure provider M2P, lending platform Rupeek, digital ledger Khatabook, edtech Teachmint, mobility player Yulu, skilling platform NxtWave, crypto exchange Mudrex and neobank challenger Jupiter. The validation of its early eye is in the follow-on list: Tiger Global, Lightspeed, Peak XV and Accel have all backed Better Capital companies in later rounds.

Partners and team

Better Capital is a solo-GP fund run by founder and CEO Vaibhav Domkundwar. He founded enterprise software company Roamware (acquired by Audax) and the bootstrapped startup studio Better Labs. An alumnus of UC Berkeley and the College of Engineering Pune, he works across Pune and San Francisco, spanning India and the US enterprise world.

Programs run

Rather than an accelerator, Better Capital runs flywheels. Brainstorm is its founder-in-residence model: long-view collaborations with high-agency builders, sometimes before a company even exists — two companies emerged from it in 2025, per the firm's annual letter. The community layer is Roundtables for portfolio founders and Future Founders sessions for new ones. Every year, Domkundwar publishes detailed Annual Letters distilling what the firm learned — transparent writing that doubles as a recruiting tool.

Credits and perks

Better Capital publishes no formal credits or perks programme. Founders should expect the value to come from the network and the partner's hands-on involvement rather than a vendor catalogue.

How founders can approach them

The fastest route in is a warm introduction from a Better Capital portfolio founder — Domkundwar has said it is the quickest way to get his attention. Cold outreach works if it shows what he looks for: a crisp understanding of the market, evidence you can sell, and a team that clears the bar. The firm seeks "deeply mission-driven founders" — so lead with the problem and the market, not the technology.