Financial technology, also known as fintech, is the innovation that aims to compete with traditional methods in the delivery of financial services. It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve various financial services. The economic industry is composed of companies that use technology to make financial services more efficient. Fintech startups are founded with the purpose of disrupting incumbent financial systems and corporations that rely less on software. 

Fintech in India 

In India, fintech startups have the potential to reshape the financial services landscape in the following ways:

• Fintech startups can reduce costs and improve quality of financial services. IT systems, and expensive physical networks, benefits of leaner operating models can be passed on to customers as they will not be burdened with legacy operations. 

• The fintech industry can develop unique and innovative models of assessing risks. By leveraging big data, machine learning, and alternative data, fintech can underwrite credit and develop credit scores for customers with limited credit history. This will improve the penetration of financial services in India.

• Fintech will help in creating a more diverse, secured, and stable financial services landscape in India. Fintech startups are less homogenous than incumbent banks and offer learning templates to improve capabilities and culture.

The following are the top fintech startups in India according to our in house VC research team at Investocracy.

PayTM

PayTM provides a digital wallet service to the users in India. It has launched financial services including Paytm Money and Paytm Mall. It is the only company in India to produce two decacorns (companies which are worth more than US$ 10B). Since demonetization, it has expanded its services to segments such as payment getaways, payments banks, investments. 

Founded- In 2010 by Vijay Shekhar Sharma 

Funding partners- Softbank, Alibaba, SAIF Partners 

PhonePe

PhonePe is an e-commerce payment system and digital wallet. Launched by Flipkart, the UPI-based payments app provides seamless services like billing, recharges, ecommerce and other online services. The platform is available in more than 11 Indian languages. It can be used to transfer money, recharge, pay bills, shop online, and buy from local vendors. In 2019, PhonePe was the leading app for UPI payments in India.

Founded- In 2014 by Rahul Chari, Sameer Nigam, Burzin Engineer

Funding partners- Flipkart

PayU

A digital payments gateway and service provider, PayU focusses on simplifying payments for small and medium merchants by providing technology to fulfil online transactions. Through PayU’s multi-functional mobile app, e-businesses and online merchants can accept and process payments. It is one of the largest payment processors and provides a solution for POS and smart billing sectors. 

Founded- In 2002 by Anirban Mukherjee

Funding partners- Naspers Group

MobiKwik

An issuer-independent digital financial services platform, MobiKwik has forayed into various segments of the fintech ecosystem. It enables consumers to store money in a virtual wallet and then use it across channels including mobile, desktop, tablet to pay merchants. Using MobiKwik gives access to exclusive discounts and offers for using the wallet. Its services include digital wallets, wealth management, insurance, and many more. MobiKwik’s USP compared to its competitors is low customer acquisition cost, inbuilt scoring model, and quick disbursal of loans. It acts like a prepaid financial instrument by the Reserve Bank of India. 

Founded- In 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh, Upasana Taku

Funding partners- Sequoia Capital India, Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc, GMO Payment Gateway

Policy Bazaar

Policy Bazaar is an Indian insurance aggregator and a global financial technology startup. It provides a digital platform in the form of an app and website. It enables users to compare financial services from insurance companies. Through partnerships with insurance brokers, Policy Bazaar provides specific financial information such as price, benefit, insurance cover, etc. 

Founded- In 2008 by Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal

Funding partners- Wellington Management, PremjiInvest, Tiger Global Management, Inventus Capital Partners

BharatPe

BharatPe is a QR code-based payment app. It enables offline merchants to accept digital payments through any Unified Payment Interface (UPI). Furthermore, it allows merchants to accept payments for free. The merchants can receive the funds from the payment in their bank account immediately.

Founded- In 2008 by Ashneer Grover and Shashvat Nakrani

Funding partners- Insight Partners and VC firm

LendingKart 

Lending Kart provides loans for working capital needs of SMEs. The loans are quick, easy,  collateral free and require minimal paperwork. Using big data analytics, the startup helps lenders evaluate a borrower’s creditworthiness. It completes the entire loan disbursal process quicker than traditional banks. At present, the company has expanded to 462 cities and disbursed more than 1,00,000 loans.

Founded- In 2014 by Harshvardhan Lunia, Mukul Sachan

Funding partners- Fullerton Financial Holdings, SBI, Bertelsmann India, Alteria Capital

Capital Float

Capital Float is a leading fintech lender to digital India. The company finances the dynamic growth of the SMEs and offers innovative point-of-sale financing for consumers. Its client portfolio includes startups such as Shopclues, Paytm and Uber. The company envisions reaching out to kirana store owners, small mom and pop stores and other small time merchants. Its mission is to lead the charge in addressing the country’s enormous credit problem. Powered by rigorous innovation and technological advancements, Capital Float acquired Walnut, a leading personal finance management app, in 2018. 

Founded- In 2013 by Gaurav Hinduja, Sashank Rishyasringa

Funding partners Amazon India, Ribbit Capital, SAIF Partners, Sequoia Capital 

Free Charge

Free Charge took the fintech industry by storm as it provides an ecosystem of cashless financial transactions in itself. It enables customers to pay their bills, invest in mutual funds and get credit all at once. Recently, it partnered with Safe Gold to form ‘Digital Gold’, which enables customers to purchase gold online without any hassles.

Founded- In 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon

Funding partners- Axis Bank

Kredex

KredX is India’s first invoice discounting marketplace. It was built with the objective of facilitating short term working capital for SMEs. It aims to so by discounting their unpaid invoices raised against blue-chip companies to a network of financiers.

Founded- In 2015 by Manish Kumar, Puneet Agarwal and Anurag Jain

Funding partners- Sequoia India, Prime Venture Partners

 

Investocracy, a company focused on connecting startups from emerging markets with Japanese investors, produced this article. 

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