Affiniti, a fintech startup founded by Aaron Bai, 20, and Sahil Phadnis, 22, has successfully raised a $17 million Series A funding round led by investment firm SignalFire. Impressively, this investment comes just six months after the startup secured an $11 million seed funding round.
The rapidly growing startup offers expense management software tailored specifically to the needs of Main Street small businesses—such as pharmacies, HVAC contractors, and auto dealerships—bringing them advanced fintech solutions previously enjoyed primarily by tech-industry startups. Affiniti provides these small businesses with customizable expense management credit cards complemented by specialized software. Their offerings go beyond traditional market staples from companies like American Express or Capital One by integrating advanced analytics and personalized financial advice directly into the product.
Bai describes Affiniti’s product as representing the third generation (“v3”) of fintech innovation. In his view, the initial wave consisted of traditional banking and financial services, while the second wave—championed by companies like Brex and Ramp—introduced more user-friendly interfaces and streamlined access to transactional data. Affiniti’s unique contribution, Bai says, lies in its ability to offer actionable financial insights and analytics directly to businesses that typically lack a dedicated finance team.
With this latest round of funding, Affiniti plans to expand its offerings significantly. Upcoming features include banking capabilities, bill-payment processing, cash flow analytics, and enhanced integrations with popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) and point-of-sale (POS) systems. The company already includes user-focused benefits such as customizable cash-back rewards, seamless integration of expense data into Quickbooks as native “QBO” files, and short-term invoice-based financing lasting up to 90 days.
Unlike many young entrepreneurs launching startups, Affiniti’s founders did not emerge from a tech accelerator or incubator like Y Combinator. Instead, Bai and Phadnis met and began collaborating at UC Berkeley, leveraging networking opportunities and industry connections forged there to secure investor support. They strategically partnered with influential industry trade groups, such as associations representing independent pharmacies, to quickly establish market validation and deliver specialized benefits like group purchasing discounts.
Their strategic approach and market-specific focus have propelled Affiniti’s swift growth trajectory. Over just 14 months, the company amassed 1,800 customers and facilitated approximately $20 million monthly in expenditures through its platform. Phadnis believes Affiniti is well-positioned to surpass $1 billion annual transaction volumes by year-end.
Revenue has similarly surged, growing tenfold over the past year according to the founders. While specific current revenue figures remain undisclosed, Phadnis hints at the company’s explosive performance, noting that one year prior Affiniti’s annualized revenue stood at around a million dollars and has since magnified tenfold.
In addition to SignalFire, the Series A round attracted numerous notable investors, including Codie Sanchez’s Contrarian Thinking Capital, Yahya Mokhtarzada (founder of TrueBill), and Austin Rief (co-founder of Morning Brew). Affiniti’s original seed investors—Indicator Ventures, Lightshed Ventures, and RiverPark Ventures—also joined the latest funding effort. Alongside the earlier seed financing, Affiniti had previously secured a $15 million debt facility expandable up to $50 million, further strengthening its financial footing for sustained growth.
