--- title: "Breaking the Pattern: Getting Digital Financial Services Entrepreneurs to Scale in East Africa and India" description: "Breaking the Pattern: Getting Digital Financial Services Entrepreneurs to Scale in East Africa and India" --- [![Village Capital](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/hubfs/VilCap_2019/LogoHorizontal-color_2022.png)](https://vilcap.com/news-and-views) ![Open menu](https://vilcap.com/images/hamburger.svg) Open Main Menu [Village Capital](https://vilcap.com/) ![Close menu](https://vilcap.com/images/close.svg) Close Main Menu - [Home](https://vilcap.com/) - About Us - [The Village Capital Story](https://vilcap.com/about-us/story) - [Our Team](https://vilcap.com/about-us/our-team) - [Careers](https://vilcap.com/careers) - [Programs for Entrepreneurs](https://vilcap.com/programs) - [Programs for Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs)](https://vilcap.com/eso-programs) - [News & Publications](https://vilcap.com/news-and-publications) - [Blogs](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts) - [Press Releases](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/press-releases) - [Reports](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/reports) - How We Support Entrepreneurs - [Our Tools for Startups and ESO's](https://vilcap.com/our-tools) - [Peer-Selected Investment](https://vilcap.com/entrepreneurs/peer-selected-investment) - [Impact Investing](https://vilcap.com/impactinvesting) - [Our Alumni](https://vilcap.com/our-alumni) - [Become a Mentor](https://vilcap.com/mentors) - [Support Our Mission](https://vilcap.com/get-involved) - [Results & Impact](https://vilcap.com/results) [Donate](https://donorbox.org/donate-to-vilcap) June 15, 2017 in [Africa](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/tag/africa), [Fintech](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/tag/fintech), [India](https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/tag/india) # Breaking the Pattern: Getting Digital Financial Services Entrepreneurs to Scale in East Africa and India By Heather Matranga - Share - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/2017/06/15/breaking-pattern-getting-digital-financial-services-entrepreneurs-scale-east-africa-india&text=Breaking%20the%20Pattern:%20Getting%20Digital%20Financial%20Services%20Entrepreneurs%20to%20Scale%20in%20East%20Africa%20and%20India) - [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/2017/06/15/breaking-pattern-getting-digital-financial-services-entrepreneurs-scale-east-africa-india) - [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://newsandviews.vilcap.com/posts/2017/06/15/breaking-pattern-getting-digital-financial-services-entrepreneurs-scale-east-africa-india) Millions of families in East Africa and India lack access to basic financial services. Despite popular perceptions of a mobile money revolution, very few FinTech startups in emerging markets are reaching meaningful scale. Breaking the Pattern examines why the vast majority of these startups in East Africa and India are not receiving the investment they need. The report's key insights include: The report’s key insights include: - **Investment is highly concentrated in just a few companies:** Despite a few well-known DFS companies operating at scale, like Safaricom’s M-Pesa in Kenya and India’s PayTM, most are not receiving the investment they need to scale. For instance, in East Africa, startup investment is at an all-time high, but 72% of venture capital went to only three startups in 2015 and 2016. - **Human Capital Trap and Business Model Challenges:** Investors in East Africa and India consider DFS companies to be risky because of human capital challenges and structural barriers in the marketplace; but these challenges are hard to overcome without investment. - **The “pattern recognition problem”:** Because of the high cost of early stage due diligence in India and East Africa, investors often fall back on patterns to find companies and make investment decisions – relying on networks and indicators like prestigious universities or accelerator programs. [SEE THE DIGITAL STORY](https://archive.vilcap.com/dfs/) [GET THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY](http://archive.vilcap.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/VC_Breaking_the_Pattern_Exec.pdf) [GET THE FULL REPORT](http://archive.vilcap.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/VC_Breaking_the_Pattern.pdf) ### Join our newsletter community By Heather Matranga Our newsletters share the latest about our programs, trends, ecosystem leaders, and innovative entrepreneurs in the impact world. Get the latest insights, right in your inbox by subscribing: Subscribe Village Capital needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. 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