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July 14, 2023

Why QED invested in Efficient Capital Labs

My decision to invest in Efficient Capital Labs (ECL) boils down to a mix of talent, market potential, strategic advantages and, of course, some instincts.

ECL operates in a market that holds enormous potential. The SaaS landscape in India is maturing rapidly, attracting more investment, and a significant portion of this is geared toward the U.S. buyers.

ECL stuck me from the get-go as solving a real, significant problem for Indian SaaS companies. Too often, these promising businesses find themselves tangled in financing options that are either dilutive or just too expensive. ECL addressed this issue head-on by crafting an innovative approach that transcends geographical borders. Their process of assessing companies in both India and the U.S. paves the way for a more comprehensive understanding of credit and fraud risks. It's not just about making financing accessible to these companies; it's about doing so in a manner that's financially viable for them.

In just six months, ECL had achieved a significant scale, which speaks volumes about its robust business model. It was on a promising trajectory, building its product, technology and sales strategies in a modular fashion to evolve into a multi-country credit assessment platform. Our experience since has further reaffirmed our belief in the company.

The team steering ECL is the real compelling factor. I saw the great blend of experience, tenacity, and innovation in the team. I've known Kaustav Das for some time, and his determination, coupled with his extensive knowledge of credit, risk management and business, is inspiring. And with Manish Arora on board, the sales motion is in capable hands.

Finally, there's a sense of alignment with QED that's hard to ignore. I feel we, at QED, uniquely understand this business, given our long credit pedigree and extensive experience with fintech and technology companies in India and the U.S. And therefore, can help Kaustav, Manish and the team in a way that only operators can.

I feel confident that this partnership will bring about remarkable results.


My decision to invest in Efficient Capital Labs (ECL) boils down to a mix of talent, market potential, strategic advantages and, of course, some instincts.

ECL operates in a market that holds enormous potential. The SaaS landscape in India is maturing rapidly, attracting more investment, and a significant portion of this is geared toward the U.S. buyers.

ECL stuck me from the get-go as solving a real, significant problem for Indian SaaS companies. Too often, these promising businesses find themselves tangled in financing options that are either dilutive or just too expensive. ECL addressed this issue head-on by crafting an innovative approach that transcends geographical borders. Their process of assessing companies in both India and the U.S. paves the way for a more comprehensive understanding of credit and fraud risks. It's not just about making financing accessible to these companies; it's about doing so in a manner that's financially viable for them.

In just six months, ECL had achieved a significant scale, which speaks volumes about its robust business model. It was on a promising trajectory, building its product, technology and sales strategies in a modular fashion to evolve into a multi-country credit assessment platform. Our experience since has further reaffirmed our belief in the company.

The team steering ECL is the real compelling factor. I saw the great blend of experience, tenacity, and innovation in the team. I've known Kaustav Das for some time, and his determination, coupled with his extensive knowledge of credit, risk management and business, is inspiring. And with Manish Arora on board, the sales motion is in capable hands.

Finally, there's a sense of alignment with QED that's hard to ignore. I feel we, at QED, uniquely understand this business, given our long credit pedigree and extensive experience with fintech and technology companies in India and the U.S. And therefore, can help Kaustav, Manish and the team in a way that only operators can.

I feel confident that this partnership will bring about remarkable results.


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01

Settlement Collapse

Value transfer moves from days - corresponding banking, T+1 securities - to seconds. Working capital tied up in float is released.

02

Cost Collapse

Marginal transaction cost approaches zero: fractions of a cent, versus 1-6% on card and corresponding rails.

03

Programmability

Money becomes an object that carries logic - escrow, splits, rebates, compliance - executed by code, not back offices.

Pure infrastructure with no revenue accrual

Layer-1 chains and general-purpose middleware — outside our circle of competence and typically outside our stage.

Speculative asset creation

NFT platforms, memecoins, prediction markets styled as products — mapping to none of the five functions; structurally uninvestable for us.

Three structural truths cut across all five functions.

(a)

Regulated-first wins

The 2020/21 cycle proved permissionless purity does not survive contact with real financial regulation. GENIUS, MiCA, CLARITY and the UK/Singapore regimes are producing founders who start from “how do we get licensed” and build backwards — precisely the founder profile QED has always preferred.
(b)

Incumbents upgraded, not disintermediated

JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are jointly building a tokenized-deposit network; Visa launched a stablecoin platform in July 2026; 140+ businesses signed an open stablecoin standard. Banks migrate — and new-generation infrastructure companies own the picks and shovels of that migration.
(c)

Emerging markets feel it first

Every function improves most where the fiat experience is worst: cross-border payments, dollar access, investment product availability, working-capital finance. Those are exactly the geographies where QED has fintech ventures’ deepest footprint. Our geographic distribution is not incidental to the tokenization thesis — it is the thesis.

Trade & working-capital finance

Finkargo( LatAm import finance) and OatFi(B2B working-capital infrastructure) sit directly on flows whose logical settlement layer is stablecoin.

Collateralized digital-asset lending

Tokenized Treasuries, equities and stablecoin holdings as instant, programmable collateral.

On-chain private credt

Maple, Centrifuge and emerging institutional protocols - credit funds migrating to programmable rails.

Why QED is advanced

Credit is QED's craft: distinguishing lending businesses from fintechs pretending to be one, charge-offs earned from charge-offs deferred. On-chain credit is a straight-line extension, not a stretch.