Sc Ventures
“Can Standard Chartered accelerate its global relevance by building and investing in fintech ventures that embed banking services into digital ecosystems across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East?”
Founded2018
HQSingapore
IndustryFintech / Venture Capital & Innovation
The story
SC Ventures was created as Standard Chartered's dedicated innovation arm to 'rewire the DNA in banking.' Rather than operating solely as a corporate VC, it builds and incubates new ventures (e.g. SOLV, nexus BaaS) alongside making fintech investments. Its portfolio spans Digital Banking & Lifestyle, Trade & Supply Chains, and Digital Assets, reflecting a strategic bet on embedding financial services into non-bank ecosystems globally — particularly across Asia and Africa.
Product timeline
2018
SC Ventures established as Standard Chartered's innovation and ventures unit, based in Singapore.· pivot
2020
Launched SOLV, a full-stack B2B marketplace for MSMEs in India, backed by SC Ventures.· banking
2021
Launched Standard Chartered nexus, a white-label Banking-as-a-Service platform deployable in 30+ global markets.· banking
2025
Co-invested $10M with Yabx (Tech Mahindra) to set up Furaha, a purpose-driven lending platform for African markets.· lending
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Sc Ventures’s embedded-finance stack
Banking / BaaS
Standard Chartered nexus (in-house)
Lending
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
2 more providers across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.