While many investors have stepped back from fintech startup investments amid the recent market downturn, financial services group Citi, under Arvind Purushotham, has stayed busy.
“2023 was an active year, probably more active than some of our peers, and we feel good about it,” Purushotham says.
“In many ways I feel like, with valuations and the activity in the fintech space, it’s a better time to be an investor. Valuations are more rational and we feel there are still some great entrepreneurs in the tech space”
“In many ways I feel like, with valuations and the activity in the fintech space, it’s a better time to be an investor”
Purushotham was the founding member of Citi Ventures in 2011 and has since led the group to become a team of 26, including 16 investors working across multiple geographies.
Citi Ventures backed 15 new portfolio companies in 2023 in addition to follow-on rounds. Recent deals include a $116m series D for identity protection software producer Silverfort and a $90m series C for flexible accommodation Kasa Living. The unit is also moving further into both financial infrastructure software and wealth management technology, an area Purushotham describes as an $84tn opportunity.
The other key area the fund is now exploring is generative AI. Citi is evaluating how it can bring the technology into its operations and to its clients safely and effectively. This means Citi Ventures is looking at startups developing security software for AI – security for AI and AI for security, as Purushotham puts it.
The unit has already begun funding startups using generative AI in their offerings, including Lexion, an AI contract management platform now set to be acquired for a nine-figure sum, and AI-powered work assistant developer Glean, which closed a $200m series D round in February.
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