Enjoy Financial Freedom by Embracing Technology
The magical wave of scientific revolution has drastically transformed many industries and among them one major industry that is unleashing the magical effects of science & technology is ‘Banking & Finance’. With each passing day the world is coming-up with booming ideas of technologies which are making our task easier and even faster. Financial Technology is one among them which are making our life smoother by allowing us to pay for anything from anywhere with just a single click. Fintech is the catchy abbreviation of Financial Technology, with the emergence of which the lives of finance professionals and the common public became much easier. Fintech startups and companies are launching avant-garde solutions to make sure that all global industries are efficiently and securely carrying out their daily transactions smoothly.
Fintech Solutions:
From apps and software to algorithms and artificial intelligence, fintech fuses two of the biggest and richest sectors of the economy, finance and tech. It simplifies the financial transaction by using various software and computer languages like .NET, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React.js, React Native, NestJS, Golang, Electron.js, GraphQL, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, and GCP to achieve their goals smoothly and successfully. A few qualified and skilled startups are working in this field with their technologically updated skills, ideas and techniques with expert workforces known as Fintech solutions. These companies are offering with golden opportunities of seamless payment using various digital applications like robo-advisors, payment apps, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending apps, investment apps, and crypto apps using high-end computer languages. Such new age solutions have made banking and finance related transaction smooth, error-free and fast. It is disrupting the financial industry by fostering competition and challenging established players as well as encouraging them to adapt & innovate.
In this article, I have added 10 best Fintech startups across the country offering top-notch, seamless and effective support in terms of financial matters.
1.Spring Money: Like any other planning, financial planning is a vital plan which needs holistic approach and systematic process for its stability and long-term success. Holistic financial planning puts together your scattered finances in an orderly, tax efficient and cost-effective way. The company was started in 2022 in Pune by Akshay Adamuthe & Nikhil Narkhedkar, Co-Founders. 80% of Indians lack Financial Literacy and thus their personal finances are unstable and directionless. Their mission is to make ‘Personal Finance Advisory’ accessible and affordable for everyone. Their commitment is to provide completely unbiased Financial Advice, covering; Goal Setting, Investments planning, Insurance planning, Tax management, Retirement planning, Asset Allocation, and so on. By choosing Spring Money, you gain access to powerful tools like- goal trackers, goal calculators, financial health checkup reports, and more, that will help you make informed financial decisions.
According to Nikhil Narkhedkar, Co-Founder, “I am on a mission to create more equal opportunities for the next billion people in the world by providing accessible and affordable financial products”.
2.Perfios: This is India’s largest SaaS-based B2B Fintech Software company empowering 800+ FIs to take informed decisions in real-time. V.R. Govindarajan is the co-founder of this company. Headquartered in Bangalore, Perfios specializes in real-time credit decision-making, analytics, onboarding automation, due diligence, monitoring and more. Perfios’ core data platform has been built to aggregate and analyze both structured and unstructured data and provide vertical solutions combining both consented and public data for the BFSI space. They are offering services like software development, data & analytics, banking and financial data analysis using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and algorithm. Their major investors were Warburg Pincus, Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures and more. They have recently raised $229 million in its Series D funding from leading private equity investor Kedaara Capital.
According to Sabyasachi Goswami, CEO, “This investment will help us in strengthening the digital transformation journey of our partners, thereby powering financial inclusion and providing access to financial services to billions across the globe”.
3. Kutumba: The Company was founded on a sad note regarding the sad demise of the head of the family of the founder. At that time, they were clueless and unprepared about how to handle their own finances. The Vinaya Honavalli Sathyanarayana and Divya Jagadish have created this company in 2020, which headquartered in Bangalore. The mission of this company is to help and guide those helpless and clueless people to know and identify their claims which lie unclaimed in the banks in the name of providend fund, life insurance, demat account, and many more. They don’t want any accidental death or sudden death to ruin a family completely just for not having the proper knowledge of finances.
Kutumba empowers your family with financial-life awareness and financial-life preparedness by empowering you to discover, document, risk-proof, and share your financial-life information with your family. They offer services like software development, financial planning using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and algorithm. The company was incubated under Amrita TBI and AIC RNTU.
According to Divya Jagadish, Co-Founder, “When that Big risky thing happens to you, your family should emerge on its feet”.
4. Upstox: Provides a seamless platform to help the customers to research companies, buy and sell stocks on the go. The company was founded in a small apartment in Delhi as RKSV by Shrini Viswanath, Kavitha Subramanian and Ravi Kumar. They build native apps for Android and iOS. Trade on a beautiful UI packed with features such as alerts, indicators, notifications, instant fund transfer and more. Their flagship web application is aimed to be miles ahead of the average desktop trading platform. Get all the advanced tools you get on a desktop app without the frills. Customize your trading platform with different widgets and create multiple workspaces like your desktop.
According to Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder, “In 1990, we invested $100 in the S&P 500. Today, it's worth over $2,000 and we think the Indian economic growth story is probably even more fantastic”.
5. Kiwi: A Bangalore based Fintech Startup provides an opportunity to apply for a virtual Rupay credit card. The company was founded by Siddharth Mehta, Mohit Bedi and Anup Agrawal. This virtual credit card is linked with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), allowing customers to transact within the UPI ecosystem. Kiwi's service acts as a payments processing platform for users, facilitating payments on external merchant websites or applications. Users can make UPI payments using the virtual credit card, which can be used for money transfers, merchant payments, and QR payments. Kiwi also provides credit on UPI, enabling users to pay through their phones using a bank account or credit. Recently they have raised $13 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India. And the existing investors are Nexus Venture Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners.
According to Anup Agrawal, Co-Founder, “We are looking to develop our product and offerings further, expand brand partnerships and expand credit card on UPI offerings as well. We will also be looking at adding more talent”.
6. Ethos:It is a digital platform which makes the process of getting life insurance easier, faster, and better for everyone. Ethos rose over $400 million from Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Accel, and Google Ventures (GV). They were listed in Forbes’ Top 50 Fintech’s of 2020, and as one of Built In's "Best Places to Work" of 2022. They leverage deep technology and data science in their mission to protect the next million families by streamlining the life insurance process and making it more accessible and convenient. They have invested enough to get rid of all the traditional barriers for ushering the industry into the modern age. The company is headquartered in Austin, but they have one corporate office in Bengaluru.
According to Lani Oshima, Senior Product Manager, “At the end of the day, we want people to be confident in their policies, so they can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with protecting their loved ones”.
7. Equity List: It is equity based management software for companies across APAC, MENA, and the US. Unicorns such as Cars24, Slice, Shiprocket, Sugar Cosmetics, Blackbuck, Livspace, and Pristyn Care, along with 280+ companies use their software to digitize and manage cap tables, stock options, and related compliances. Currently, they are managing for 15k+ stakeholders and stock options worth $1.1Bn+. They are backed by Angel List India, Hustle Fund, Republic, Unpopular Ventures, Mana Ventures, and a stellar group of angels. Mission of their company is to ‘build the operating system for modern equity’.
According to Kashish Sharma, CEO, “Equity List is building the definitive equity management platform for founders to manage cap tables, employee grants, and data rooms”.
8. KredX:The previous name of this company was Mandi. Here they solve the problems of quick and efficient access to much-needed working capital finance for Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) across India. The company was founded in 2015, in Bengaluru by Manish Kumar. They offer customized business financing solutions to help all businesses, whether small or large, tackle financial challenges and risk reductions with confidence. Their mission is to make transactions quick, reliable and transparent. It is world’s fastest Operating System for supply chain finance.
KredX is being operated by a team of tech and finance honchos with diverse experience & has most recently raised Series B funding led by Tiger Global Management and existing investors for $26M. They have Dr. R.B. Barman as their advisor, who was former Executive Director of RBI, holding Master’s Degree in Statistics and Ph.D. in Industrial Economics. They have introduced unique system of cash management solutions where they manage AI driven automated data, real-time visibility into collections metrics and collectors KPIs.
According to Devang Mundhra, CTO, “No-code/ low code platforms are redefining the Fintech landscape, facilitating swift development and deployment of financial solutions with unparalleled efficiency”.
9. Jar: A newly launched company which started operating in 2021 in Bengaluru. They became so popular in just three months that they reached 0.5 million users. Currently they have 1.5 crore+ strong users adding value to millions of Indians’ lives, one rupee at a time. They have built the most efficient way to save and invest money, and by this exciting product in the space of micro wealth management for Gen Zs and Millennials.
Jar wants to aware all the people about saving money with the power of savings through the concept of a piggy bank, which will ultimately help them grow their savings by providing access to other financial products - all in one place. This way they will help Indians to rediscover savings in the times of instant gratification, inflation and never ending need of assimilation into western philosophy of consumerism. Through their digital platform they offer buying and selling of gold, digital gold, and instant loan. Renowned investors like Tiger Global, rocketship.vc, Arkam Ventures, WEH Ventures have invested in their startup. Today the firm is worth Rs.2463 Crore.
According to Misbah Ashraf, Co-Founder, “My passion lies in building products that users find delightful, and this drive is perfectly complemented by my love for people, numbers, and winning. All my energy comes from bringing order to chaos, solving problems before they surface, and staying focused when it gets tough”.
10. Prodigal: It is a unique cloud-based Consumer Finance Intelligence solution that analyzes agent and customer conversations to enhance profits, experience, and compliance. In 2018, Shantanu Gangal and Sangram Raje, founded this company. They have corporate offices in CA, Mumbai and Bengaluru. A lot of agencies, healthcare providers, and lenders depend on Prodigal to unlock insights that drive win-win financial outcomes. They use generative AI to strengthen your consumer finance team. Till date, they have analyzed over 300 million consumer finance conversations just like the ones you have every day.
Prodigal have elevated the obsolete tools and ideas and replaced them with advanced context and clarity. Nearly one in five U.S. borrowers has already engaged with Prodigal during more than 200 million interactions. With the backing of domain experts, technology leaders, and top investors, including Accel, Menlo Ventures, and Y-Combinator, Prodigal is poised to become the next iconic vertical SaaS company. An intent engine that combines the strengths of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) powers Prodigal’s core apps are ProAssist, ProNotes, and ProVoice.
According to Sangram Raje, Co-Founder & CTO, “At Prodigal, we envision a world where all lending, servicing and collections teams and processes are modernized with fresh insights powered by artificial intelligence”.
Conclusion
Currently, more than 2200 Fintech companies are operating within which 19% are in the payment sector and the rest are operating in lending and wealth technology. As per the data, 67% of the fintech companies have set-up within five years. The Indian Fintech market is valued at $584 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025. Indian Fintech companies are expected to generate revenue to the tune of $190 billion by 2030. Recently, the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ model is getting very much popular, but having certain pros and cons. Strong technologies are expected to mend the difficult roads and lead us to a smooth path for a bright future. The Fintech space is expected to thrive due to the acceleration of digital momentum brought on by the pandemic which will continue to grow bigger in the days to come.
Fintech Solutions:
From apps and software to algorithms and artificial intelligence, fintech fuses two of the biggest and richest sectors of the economy, finance and tech. It simplifies the financial transaction by using various software and computer languages like .NET, JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, React.js, React Native, NestJS, Golang, Electron.js, GraphQL, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, and GCP to achieve their goals smoothly and successfully. A few qualified and skilled startups are working in this field with their technologically updated skills, ideas and techniques with expert workforces known as Fintech solutions. These companies are offering with golden opportunities of seamless payment using various digital applications like robo-advisors, payment apps, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending apps, investment apps, and crypto apps using high-end computer languages. Such new age solutions have made banking and finance related transaction smooth, error-free and fast. It is disrupting the financial industry by fostering competition and challenging established players as well as encouraging them to adapt & innovate.
In this article, I have added 10 best Fintech startups across the country offering top-notch, seamless and effective support in terms of financial matters.
1.Spring Money: Like any other planning, financial planning is a vital plan which needs holistic approach and systematic process for its stability and long-term success. Holistic financial planning puts together your scattered finances in an orderly, tax efficient and cost-effective way. The company was started in 2022 in Pune by Akshay Adamuthe & Nikhil Narkhedkar, Co-Founders. 80% of Indians lack Financial Literacy and thus their personal finances are unstable and directionless. Their mission is to make ‘Personal Finance Advisory’ accessible and affordable for everyone. Their commitment is to provide completely unbiased Financial Advice, covering; Goal Setting, Investments planning, Insurance planning, Tax management, Retirement planning, Asset Allocation, and so on. By choosing Spring Money, you gain access to powerful tools like- goal trackers, goal calculators, financial health checkup reports, and more, that will help you make informed financial decisions.
According to Nikhil Narkhedkar, Co-Founder, “I am on a mission to create more equal opportunities for the next billion people in the world by providing accessible and affordable financial products”.
2.Perfios: This is India’s largest SaaS-based B2B Fintech Software company empowering 800+ FIs to take informed decisions in real-time. V.R. Govindarajan is the co-founder of this company. Headquartered in Bangalore, Perfios specializes in real-time credit decision-making, analytics, onboarding automation, due diligence, monitoring and more. Perfios’ core data platform has been built to aggregate and analyze both structured and unstructured data and provide vertical solutions combining both consented and public data for the BFSI space. They are offering services like software development, data & analytics, banking and financial data analysis using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and algorithm. Their major investors were Warburg Pincus, Bessemer Venture Partners, Stride Ventures and more. They have recently raised $229 million in its Series D funding from leading private equity investor Kedaara Capital.
According to Sabyasachi Goswami, CEO, “This investment will help us in strengthening the digital transformation journey of our partners, thereby powering financial inclusion and providing access to financial services to billions across the globe”.
3. Kutumba: The Company was founded on a sad note regarding the sad demise of the head of the family of the founder. At that time, they were clueless and unprepared about how to handle their own finances. The Vinaya Honavalli Sathyanarayana and Divya Jagadish have created this company in 2020, which headquartered in Bangalore. The mission of this company is to help and guide those helpless and clueless people to know and identify their claims which lie unclaimed in the banks in the name of providend fund, life insurance, demat account, and many more. They don’t want any accidental death or sudden death to ruin a family completely just for not having the proper knowledge of finances.
Kutumba empowers your family with financial-life awareness and financial-life preparedness by empowering you to discover, document, risk-proof, and share your financial-life information with your family. They offer services like software development, financial planning using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and algorithm. The company was incubated under Amrita TBI and AIC RNTU.
According to Divya Jagadish, Co-Founder, “When that Big risky thing happens to you, your family should emerge on its feet”.
4. Upstox: Provides a seamless platform to help the customers to research companies, buy and sell stocks on the go. The company was founded in a small apartment in Delhi as RKSV by Shrini Viswanath, Kavitha Subramanian and Ravi Kumar. They build native apps for Android and iOS. Trade on a beautiful UI packed with features such as alerts, indicators, notifications, instant fund transfer and more. Their flagship web application is aimed to be miles ahead of the average desktop trading platform. Get all the advanced tools you get on a desktop app without the frills. Customize your trading platform with different widgets and create multiple workspaces like your desktop.
According to Ravi Kumar, Co-Founder, “In 1990, we invested $100 in the S&P 500. Today, it's worth over $2,000 and we think the Indian economic growth story is probably even more fantastic”.
5. Kiwi: A Bangalore based Fintech Startup provides an opportunity to apply for a virtual Rupay credit card. The company was founded by Siddharth Mehta, Mohit Bedi and Anup Agrawal. This virtual credit card is linked with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), allowing customers to transact within the UPI ecosystem. Kiwi's service acts as a payments processing platform for users, facilitating payments on external merchant websites or applications. Users can make UPI payments using the virtual credit card, which can be used for money transfers, merchant payments, and QR payments. Kiwi also provides credit on UPI, enabling users to pay through their phones using a bank account or credit. Recently they have raised $13 million in its pre-Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India. And the existing investors are Nexus Venture Partners and Stellaris Venture Partners.
According to Anup Agrawal, Co-Founder, “We are looking to develop our product and offerings further, expand brand partnerships and expand credit card on UPI offerings as well. We will also be looking at adding more talent”.
6. Ethos:It is a digital platform which makes the process of getting life insurance easier, faster, and better for everyone. Ethos rose over $400 million from Sequoia Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Accel, and Google Ventures (GV). They were listed in Forbes’ Top 50 Fintech’s of 2020, and as one of Built In's "Best Places to Work" of 2022. They leverage deep technology and data science in their mission to protect the next million families by streamlining the life insurance process and making it more accessible and convenient. They have invested enough to get rid of all the traditional barriers for ushering the industry into the modern age. The company is headquartered in Austin, but they have one corporate office in Bengaluru.
According to Lani Oshima, Senior Product Manager, “At the end of the day, we want people to be confident in their policies, so they can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with protecting their loved ones”.
7. Equity List: It is equity based management software for companies across APAC, MENA, and the US. Unicorns such as Cars24, Slice, Shiprocket, Sugar Cosmetics, Blackbuck, Livspace, and Pristyn Care, along with 280+ companies use their software to digitize and manage cap tables, stock options, and related compliances. Currently, they are managing for 15k+ stakeholders and stock options worth $1.1Bn+. They are backed by Angel List India, Hustle Fund, Republic, Unpopular Ventures, Mana Ventures, and a stellar group of angels. Mission of their company is to ‘build the operating system for modern equity’.
According to Kashish Sharma, CEO, “Equity List is building the definitive equity management platform for founders to manage cap tables, employee grants, and data rooms”.
8. KredX:The previous name of this company was Mandi. Here they solve the problems of quick and efficient access to much-needed working capital finance for Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) across India. The company was founded in 2015, in Bengaluru by Manish Kumar. They offer customized business financing solutions to help all businesses, whether small or large, tackle financial challenges and risk reductions with confidence. Their mission is to make transactions quick, reliable and transparent. It is world’s fastest Operating System for supply chain finance.
KredX is being operated by a team of tech and finance honchos with diverse experience & has most recently raised Series B funding led by Tiger Global Management and existing investors for $26M. They have Dr. R.B. Barman as their advisor, who was former Executive Director of RBI, holding Master’s Degree in Statistics and Ph.D. in Industrial Economics. They have introduced unique system of cash management solutions where they manage AI driven automated data, real-time visibility into collections metrics and collectors KPIs.
According to Devang Mundhra, CTO, “No-code/ low code platforms are redefining the Fintech landscape, facilitating swift development and deployment of financial solutions with unparalleled efficiency”.
9. Jar: A newly launched company which started operating in 2021 in Bengaluru. They became so popular in just three months that they reached 0.5 million users. Currently they have 1.5 crore+ strong users adding value to millions of Indians’ lives, one rupee at a time. They have built the most efficient way to save and invest money, and by this exciting product in the space of micro wealth management for Gen Zs and Millennials.
Jar wants to aware all the people about saving money with the power of savings through the concept of a piggy bank, which will ultimately help them grow their savings by providing access to other financial products - all in one place. This way they will help Indians to rediscover savings in the times of instant gratification, inflation and never ending need of assimilation into western philosophy of consumerism. Through their digital platform they offer buying and selling of gold, digital gold, and instant loan. Renowned investors like Tiger Global, rocketship.vc, Arkam Ventures, WEH Ventures have invested in their startup. Today the firm is worth Rs.2463 Crore.
According to Misbah Ashraf, Co-Founder, “My passion lies in building products that users find delightful, and this drive is perfectly complemented by my love for people, numbers, and winning. All my energy comes from bringing order to chaos, solving problems before they surface, and staying focused when it gets tough”.
10. Prodigal: It is a unique cloud-based Consumer Finance Intelligence solution that analyzes agent and customer conversations to enhance profits, experience, and compliance. In 2018, Shantanu Gangal and Sangram Raje, founded this company. They have corporate offices in CA, Mumbai and Bengaluru. A lot of agencies, healthcare providers, and lenders depend on Prodigal to unlock insights that drive win-win financial outcomes. They use generative AI to strengthen your consumer finance team. Till date, they have analyzed over 300 million consumer finance conversations just like the ones you have every day.
Prodigal have elevated the obsolete tools and ideas and replaced them with advanced context and clarity. Nearly one in five U.S. borrowers has already engaged with Prodigal during more than 200 million interactions. With the backing of domain experts, technology leaders, and top investors, including Accel, Menlo Ventures, and Y-Combinator, Prodigal is poised to become the next iconic vertical SaaS company. An intent engine that combines the strengths of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP) powers Prodigal’s core apps are ProAssist, ProNotes, and ProVoice.
According to Sangram Raje, Co-Founder & CTO, “At Prodigal, we envision a world where all lending, servicing and collections teams and processes are modernized with fresh insights powered by artificial intelligence”.
Conclusion
Currently, more than 2200 Fintech companies are operating within which 19% are in the payment sector and the rest are operating in lending and wealth technology. As per the data, 67% of the fintech companies have set-up within five years. The Indian Fintech market is valued at $584 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2025. Indian Fintech companies are expected to generate revenue to the tune of $190 billion by 2030. Recently, the ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ model is getting very much popular, but having certain pros and cons. Strong technologies are expected to mend the difficult roads and lead us to a smooth path for a bright future. The Fintech space is expected to thrive due to the acceleration of digital momentum brought on by the pandemic which will continue to grow bigger in the days to come.
