Emphasis Ventures: Fintech Bets In — and Inspired By — India Innovation

Emphasis Ventures (EMVC) is a global early-stage venture capital firm investing in the future of fintech and commerce that is, in its own words, "in and inspired by India innovation." The thesis is elegant: India is both the laboratory and the launchpad — build fintech for India's billion-scale digital rails, and you build products the world wants. The firm describes itself as a conduit for capital and connectivity across global markets, spanning AI-enabled commerce, financial services, digital infrastructure and deep tech.

Its total fund size is not publicly disclosed, but the track record is. EMVC's portfolio includes some of the most watched names in Indian fintech — Jar, Slice, Khatabook, Bureau, Flash, Clinikk, Tartan, Basis, Wealthy and Monnai. Per its Milken Institute biography, the firm's portfolio companies serve more than 300 million individuals and small businesses.

The person at the centre

CEO and Founding Partner Melissa Frakman has spent over a decade in India. Before founding EMVC, she was Vice President at Zomato prior to its landmark IPO, India Senior Director at Albright Stonebridge Group, Financial Services Director of the US-India Business Council, and a program manager with early microfinance institutions. She has been a product advisor to companies including Amazon, Uber, Principal Financial and Remitly, guest-lectured on fintech at Harvard Business School, Cornell and IIM-Bangalore, and sits on the Global Women in Fintech Powerlist. In 2024 she was named Fintech Person of the Year at India's Global Fintech Awards, and she mentors Techstars and the Government of India's Atal Innovation Mission. Her views on fintech have been featured in the Washington Post, Financial Times, Forbes, Times of India and the New York Times.

Sectors, stage and pitching

EMVC invests at the early stage in breakthrough fintech and insurtech — and increasingly at the intersection of digital infrastructure, commerce and AI-enabled financial systems. There is no formal accelerator program; the value-add is cross-border connectivity: plugging Indian founders into the leadership of global financial services and internet companies while anchoring them in India's local fintech ecosystem. Founders can pitch directly at [email protected]. Credits or perks beyond capital are not publicly disclosed.