Recur Club: Empowering Founders with Non-Dilutive Growth Capital and Data-Driven Financing

January 3, 2026 12 min read

"Founders often scale their companies to unicorn status only to find themselves with single-digit shareholdings. We believe there’s a more efficient way to manage capital." This problem statement, shared by Ekalavya Gupta, founder of Recur Club, is the catalyst behind Asia’s first trading platform for upfront non-dilutive growth capital. By enabling companies to trade their future recurring revenues for instant cash, Recur Club is ensuring that the two most precious assets of any founder—equity and time—remain protected.

Founded in 2021 by IIM Calcutta batchmates Ekalavya Gupta and **Abhinav Sherwal**, Recur Club is bridging the "time arbitrage" gap. In the traditional world, SaaS and subscription-based companies spend heavily on customer acquisition (CAC) but only realize the lifetime value (LTV) over several months. Recur Club leverages technology to turn this future value into immediate capital within 48 hours, providing a vital alternative to equity-heavy funding rounds.

The Time Arbitrage Gap: Startups often have to burn equity just to cover their daily operating expenses and CAC. Recur Club solves this by allowing companies to finance their predictable revenue streams, unlocking capital without giving up ownership or control.

"Data is the New Collateral": Beyond Traditional Debt

Traditional banking remains out of reach for many early-stage tech companies because they lack physical assets like land or buildings to use as mortgage. Ekalavya Gupta has flipped this model. "In our world, data is the collateral," he explains. By integrating directly with a company's financial systems, invoicing software, and banking gateways, Recur Club uses AI/ML models to underwrite risk in real-time.

This integration allows for a level of precision that banks simply cannot match. "We don't just finance and hope for the best," Gupta notes. "We monitor the operational data live. We can preempt problems months before they happen and provide advisory services to help founders stabilize their business. We’ve effectively become a full-stack financial suite for growing companies."

How Recur Club Unlocks Capital

System Integration: Founders link their subscription management and banking systems to the Recur Club platform.
AI Underwriting: Proprietary models analyze alternative data points (churn, LTV, retention) to assess creditworthiness.
Trade for Capital: Companies trade their future recurring revenue for an upfront cash discount (typically 8% to 12% annualized).
48-Hour Unlock: Capital is disbursed into the company's account in less than two days.
Ongoing Advisory: Data insights are shared back with the founder to benchmark their metrics against industry averages.

Building with a "Team of Rivals"

Recur Club’s rapid growth—going from a cafe meeting on a Sunday to being live with an MVP in just three months—is a result of its unique human capital strategy. Ekalavya maintains a list in his phone jokingly called the **"Team of Rivals"**—a collection of talented friends and former colleagues he admired during his career at Nomura, Kotak, and CDPQ.

"The alignment of your team makes or breaks a startup," says Gupta. "We hired our core team from people who already bought into our idea early on. When you're at zero, every path seems lucrative, so having a team that can stay focused and prioritize the right opportunity is the biggest fun and the biggest challenge."

Recur Club by the Numbers

48 Hours: The time it takes to unlock growth capital for a verified business.
$20 Billion+: Cumulative capital managed by the institutional investors on the platform.
2.5X: Top-line growth reported by late 2023, with margins between 2% to 5%.
₹3,000 Crore: Targeted debt deployment for the fiscal year 2024-25.
10,000+: Data points used in their financial modeling and machine learning engines.

The Recurring Revenue World

While the model started with SaaS, Gupta points out that the entire world is moving toward a recurring revenue model. From OTT platforms and music subscriptions to gym memberships and even rental expenses, 70-80% of modern business expenses are now recurring. This shift makes the Recur Club model applicable across a vast array of sectors.

One notable success story involved an edtech SaaS company that was growing 100% year-on-year but suffered from a 70% churn rate. Through Recur Club's benchmark analysis, the founders realized their churn was nearly double the industry average. By focusing on retention data provided by the platform, the company stabilized its operations, allowing Recur Club to finance them even further.

"Entrepreneurship is a medium to solve a problem, not an end in itself. It’s about someone who truly believes something can be turned around, and has the passion to stay at it even during extremely uncertain times."
— Ekalavya Gupta, Founder, Recur Club

Leadership and the "Bucket" Philosophy

Reflecting on his journey from a high-flying investment professional to a founder, Ekalavya recommends the book **"How Full is Your Bucket?"**. He uses its philosophy to manage his own energy and time. "As a founder, you are constantly talking to investors, employees, and customers. You have to identify if an interaction drains your energy or fills your bucket. If it drains you, turn it off and move ahead."

Founder's Wisdom for the Growth Stage

Prioritize Ruthlessly: At the start, every opportunity looks profitable. Pick the one that aligns with your long-term strategy and ignore the rest.
Data over Property: If you are a recurring revenue business, your data is your most valuable asset. Use platforms that recognize this value instead of giving away equity.
Process Matters: While startups are chaotic, being process-oriented early on prevents the team from stalling as you scale.
Trust the Momentum: We went from a cafe to live in 120 days. Speed is a competitive advantage that can help you catch the "Randomness" of success.

The Future: Democratizing Capital for Bharat

With a target to deploy ₹3,000 crore in the coming year, Recur Club is positioning itself as the primary debt marketplace for Indian SMEs and startups. By providing fast, transparent, and reliable financing, Ekalavya Gupta and Abhinav Sherwal are ensuring that the next generation of Indian unicorns can grow without losing the control they worked so hard to build.

"Mathematics makes everything easier," Ekalavya concludes. "If the product knows more than the seller, the knowledge is already there. We just need to work on the basics: pricing, procurement, and consistency. That is what we do at Recur Club."

The fiduciary Duty: Gupta believes that as a financing platform, Recur Club has a fiduciary duty to both the investor and the company. By leveraging high-end data engineering, they ensure that every investment is backed by real-time operational truth.

Key Takeaways

For SaaS Founders: Equity is the most expensive way to fund your operations. Use non-dilutive capital to bridge your CAC-LTV gap and keep your ownership intact.

For Financial Investors: Real-time access to operational data is the ultimate risk mitigation tool in fixed-income investing. Static monitoring is a thing of the past.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Don't wait for the perfect moment. Meet a friend, align on a problem, and start working on it the next Monday. Speed and alignment are your greatest assets.

About the Guest

Ekalavya Gupta is the Founder and Co-CEO of Recur Club. An investment professional with years of experience at Nomura, Kotak, and CDPQ, he has managed billions in capital across Asia. An IIM Calcutta alumnus, Ekalavya is a pioneer in the non-dilutive financing space, dedicated to helping founders scale their businesses while maintaining control through technology-led financial innovation.