Published on: 06/16/2025
By Pearl Agarwal
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India is building one of the most sophisticated Public Digital Infrastructure ecosystems in the world and it’s moving fast. With the advent of India Stack 2.0, early-stage innovation in fintech, commerce, and data infrastructure is being redefined. For early-stage fintech founders, this isn’t just a policy shift; it’s a product roadmap, investment framework, and scaling engine, all rolled into one.
Protocols like ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), OCEN (Open Credit Enablement Network), and AA (Account Aggregator) are not theoretical constructs. They are live, interoperable frameworks that reduce friction, lower entry barriers, and offer startups an unprecedented ability to plug into a national scale from day one. Especially for those seeking pre-seed funding for fintech, this new infrastructure changes the game entirely.
The foundation of India Stack revolutionized the digital landscape by giving every Indian citizen access to fast, secure, and low-cost public utilities like Aadhaar-based authentication, eKYC, eSign, and UPI. These components reduced friction across identity verification and payments, acting as the backbone for India’s fintech revolution. UPI, for example, facilitated over 11 billion transactions in a single month in 2023, proving its effectiveness in scaling digital payments nationwide.
However, even with these tools, access to formal credit, platform-neutral commerce, and user-controlled data remained gaps that startups struggled to bridge. Founders had to choose between building costly infrastructure or staying limited in scale. This is where the shift to India Stack 2.0 becomes pivotal. It is not a replacement but a powerful extension of the original ecosystem.
Where the original stack enabled basic transactions, the new stack democratises participation in core economic activities. For early-stage founders, especially those pursuing pre-seed funding, this transition is an invitation to build products that are interoperable, trusted, and embedded within the broader national digital architecture. It’s no longer just about solving problems, it’s about solving them in a way that aligns with India’s digital future.
The original India Stack was transformative; Aadhaar, eKYC, eSign, and UPI made identity, authentication, and payments fast, digital, and secure. The success of UPI alone created fertile ground for the fintech explosion in India. But it was incomplete.
As India pushes toward inclusive digitisation, India Stack 2.0 emerges as the natural next chapter. Where the original stack digitised transactions, the new stack aims to democratise discovery, credit, and data ownership.
For a pre-seed stage founder, time, capital, and access are precious resources. The early stages of building a company are often dominated by friction; compliance hurdles, lack of distribution channels, and limited visibility with institutions. This is where India Stack 2.0 becomes a catalytic advantage. It provides the kind of foundational infrastructure that allows founders to move faster with lower overhead.
With Public Digital Infrastructure already integrated across sectors, founders can embed scalable, compliant architecture into their MVPs from day one. For example, a startup founder in fintech can use AA to streamline data collection, integrate OCEN to deliver embedded credit solutions, and plug into ONDC to gain national distribution without building the logistics stack themselves. These aren’t fringe tools; they’re rapidly becoming essential infrastructure.
Whether you are raising pre seed funding, building your MVP, or seeking early pilots, alignment with India Stack 2.0 adds credibility to your pitch. It signals readiness for scale and an understanding of India’s unique digital rails. It also helps answer the first question any pre seed investor asks: “How will you go to market quickly and efficiently?” Founders who show that they’ve embedded Public Digital Infrastructure into their product from the start present a compelling case not just for funding but for long-term success.
For a pre-seed stage founder, time is your most valuable currency. Infrastructure friction, regulatory complexity, and distribution hurdles are the silent killers of momentum. India Stack 2.0 eliminates many of these by offering interoperable rails that can be embedded into products from the get-go.
For those building in fintech, commerce, or data-driven services, this stack is the equivalent of free infrastructure. Whether you are applying for pre-seed funding, building your first MVP, or looking to validate product-market fit, aligning with India Stack gives you a meaningful edge.
ONDC decentralises digital commerce by creating a network where buyers and sellers can interact across platforms. For early stage founders, it means you no longer need to own demand to access it. ONDC removes the walled gardens of e-commerce and offers distribution at scale.
Instead of spending your initial capital on customer acquisition, founders can now focus on product differentiation and fulfilment quality. This is especially relevant when pitching to pre seed investors, who increasingly ask how your go-to-market strategy de-risks CAC and scales efficiently.
OCEN is a framework that connects lenders with digital platforms to deliver credit at scale. Think of it as the UPI of credit. For pre-seed funding for fintech startups, it shifts the conversation from “How will you lend?” to “How will you enable lending?”
You no longer need to be a bank. With OCEN, startups can offer credit products without holding a balance sheet. For a startup founder, this means leaner operations, more partnerships, and faster time to scale.
VCs are now seeking startups that enable credit through embedded finance—not just those who build yet another lending app. This changes what a pre-seed investor looks for and how they evaluate fintech infrastructure plays.
The Account Aggregator framework puts data control in the hands of the user. Individuals can consent to share financial data across institutions without compromising privacy.
This empowers founders building personal finance tools, underwriting engines, or even hyper-personalised SaaS models. For a pre-seed stage founder, this infrastructure means you don’t need to spend months negotiating data access or onboarding flows. You integrate AA, receive consented data, and begin creating value from day one.
Public Digital Infrastructure like AA represents a strategic lever. It aligns with both investor scrutiny and user expectations around privacy. For pre seed funding for fintech, using AA is increasingly becoming a hygiene factor.
For pre seed fintech investors, the rise of India Stack 2.0 marks a turning point in how they evaluate early-stage startups. Integration into platforms like ONDC, OCEN, and AA offers a tangible signal that a pre-seed stage founder understands how to build on India’s evolving digital foundations. This alignment not only validates the startup’s technical direction but also reduces execution risk from the investor’s perspective.
More importantly, DPI integration suggests the startup is building with interoperability, trust, and compliance in mind from the outset. Investors are increasingly prioritising companies that don’t rely on monopolistic or closed ecosystems. Instead, they’re looking at DPI-native startups as more resilient and better aligned with future policy frameworks.
For fintech founders seeking pre-seed funding, demonstrating active use of Public Digital Infrastructure can differentiate them significantly. It serves as a shortcut to trust. It also positions the startup to scale rapidly without incurring the costs typically associated with infrastructure, compliance, and user onboarding. For investors, this translates to better capital efficiency, faster market entry, and improved odds of long-term success.
For pre-seed fintech investors, India Stack 2.0 compresses timelines and reduces technical risk. If a startup is already integrated into ONDC, OCEN, or AA, it signals to investors that the founder understands the Indian digital architecture deeply.
It also reduces dependence on closed ecosystems. Startups built on DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) are more resilient, less reliant on monopolistic platforms, and more aligned with regulatory tailwinds.
Government-backed public rails are often treated with skepticism—but India Stack has proven that when done right, these platforms can unlock massive innovation. For early stage founders, these aren’t just compliance obligations. They’re strategic assets.
India Stack 2.0 gives clarity around trust, distribution, credit, and user data. It enables startups to scale without becoming infrastructural companies themselves. For founders, this means faster MVP cycles, stronger pitches, and better fit with pre seed funding mandates.
Founders who integrate India Stack 2.0 aren’t just using infrastructure; they’re aligning themselves with the nation’s digital blueprint. DPI-native startups are expected to become more fundable, more compliant, and more scalable.
This is why venture capital investors in India are actively tracking DPI adoption. They see it as a signal of long-term viability and ecosystem fit. As the bar for startups continues to rise, DPI integration is becoming a marker of strategic foresight.
India Stack 2.0 is a defining moment for Indian entrepreneurship. It lowers the cost of innovation, accelerates scale, and aligns startup infrastructure with national goals. For early stage founders, especially those in fintech, it provides not just rails but a whole roadmap.
Whether you’re seeking pre-seed funding, pitching to pre seed investors, or building your first product, aligning with Public Digital Infrastructure will not just improve your chances of success, it will shape what success looks like.
It is the next evolution of India’s digital public infrastructure that includes ONDC, OCEN, and AA, enabling interoperability in commerce, credit, and data.
It offers a ready-made infrastructure for scale and compliance; making startups more attractive to pre-seed fintech investors.
No; while pre-seed funding for fintech is a major use case, commerce, SaaS, and data startups also benefit from India Stack 2.0.
Begin building your product around these rails. Understand AA, OCEN, and ONDC. Pitch your DPI-native alignment to investors.
Because DPI reduces platform risk and unlocks scalable business models. Venture capital investors in India view this as a long-term infrastructure bet.
