We are living in an era where fintech is taking over the world. Technology has always given us a revolutionary form in every sector, now it is the turn for fintech. India has become a hub for startups. More and more people are showing their interest in being an entrepreneur. Fintech startups are showing immense growth in the country and as of now, India has over 2,100 Fintech companies. As per reports, by 2025 the fintech market in India is expected to reach $150-160 billion.
Now, any kind of business needs funds to function, without funds, the survival of a business is not possible. The fintech industry is booming with new business ideas and opportunities alike. Now Fintech startups are experiencing growth and one of the prime reasons is the investors. They are providing these startups with the required funds that their business needs. In this article, we will talk about the different investors in India that invest in fintech startups. So, without any further ado, let’s get started.
“FinTech is not only an enabler but the driving engine” -Pierre Gramegna
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Elevation Capital which is formerly known as SAIF Partners is a venture capital firm known for investing in some of the most popular startups and is one of the biggest investors in India. The company was founded in the year 2002 by Ravi Adusumalli and since then it has never looked back and provided support to some of the biggest fintech startups in India. Some of the popular Indian fintech startups that have received funding from this venture capital firm are PayTm, FamPay, Uni, Jodo Anthem, Aye Finance, Acko, and more.
This Mumbai-based investment firm, founded in 2010 has been showing its grasp by investing in some of the seed-stage and early-seed-stage startups from all sectors of business. The venture capital firm has participated in more than 175 funding deals. Some of the Indian fintech companies it has invested in areInstamojo, Turtlemint, Slice, Zopper, Kaleidofin, Unicoin, smallcase, and more. Blume Ventures is one of the most popular venture capital firms in India that has generously invested in some of the most popular fintechs in India.
Better Capital is founded by Vaibhav Domkundwar and the firm is focused on building and investing in promising businesses. This India-based, venture capital firm has been showing its interest in fintech startups from the very beginning. Better Capital’s investment portfolio includes more than 200 companies among which 40 are related to fintech. The venture capital firm has invested in some of the popular fintech startups like Rupeek, Open, Slice, M2P, Jupiter, Rupify and others.
Kalaari Capital is a popular Indian Venture Capital firm that is founded by a woman, Vani Kola. The headquarters of the Kalaari Capital is situated in Bengaluru. The investment firm founded in 2006 mainly looks for promising and early seed-stage startups from multiple sectors to invest in. Kalaari Capital has invested in the likes of Threedots, Upstox, Toffee Insurance, AffordPlan, WeRize and other fintech startups.
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The venture capital firm mainly focuses on early-stage businesses and invests in them. The company focuses on multiple sectors including Fintech, Edtech, b2b sectors dealing with fintech, Health-tech, SaaS, consumer brands and others. The headquarters of the company is situated in Mumbai. The company has invested in more than 70 deals and among them, 9 are related to fintech startups. Some of the popular fintech startups that the venture has invested in areLendingkart, LoanTap, Upwards, Propelld, and more.
Prime Venture Partners
Founder – Amit Somani, Sanjay Swamy and Shripati Acharya
Prime Venture Partners – Fintech Investors in India
Prime Venture Partners was founded in the year 2011 and since then it has funded many fintech startups. The company was founded by Amit Somani, Sanjay Swamy and Shripati Acharya and the headquarters is situated in Bengaluru. The company has also invested in the sectors of Edtech, SaaS, and health care. Some of the major fintech startups that Prime Venture Partners have invested inareNiyo, AffordPlan, KredX, Knight FinTech, and more.
Pravega Ventures
Founder – Mukul Singhal, Rohit Jain and Vinay Menon
Another prominent fintech investor in India on the list is Pravega Ventures, founded by Mukul Singhal, Rohit Jain and Vinay Menon. The headquarters of the company is situated in Delhi. Pravega Ventures has contributed to more than 26 funding deals till now. The venture capital firm focuses on tech-related startups which include fintech as well. It has invested in fintech startups like ePayLater, Flexmoney, Mintoak, MyShubhLife, and more.
Titan Capital
Founder – Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal Founded – 2015 Investment Portfolio – LogiPe, Jupiter, Credgencies, Razorpay, Tinkerr, Astu Credit
Titan Capital – Fintech Investors in India
Titan Capital is a venture capital firm whose headquarters is situated in Gurugram. The most interesting thing is that the firm is founded by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal who are the founders of Snapdeal. The firm focuses on funding seed-stage and pre-seed-stage startups. It was founded in the year 2015 and since then Titan Capital has participated in many funding deals related to different sectors of startups. Titan Capital has invested in fintech startups like LogiPe, Jupiter, Credgencies, Razorpay, Tinkerr, Astu Credit, and more.
For any kind of business, investment is necessary. Investors willingly provide businesses that they deem to be potential with the needed funds. Fintech startups are growing in numbers in India, and it seems like it’s just the start of the real game. Naturally, investors are also looking to invest in fintech startups as financial services have become an important need and the market is growing quite fast. With time, many other venture capital firms will also start investing generously in fintech startups.
FAQs
What is Fintech?
Financial technology is abbreviated to FinTech and it comprises companies that use technology to offer financial services.
How many fintech startups are there in India?
There are more than 2100 fintech startups in India as of 2022.
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Don’t you think life would have been easier if you had a personal line of credit at your disposal? Who doesn’t want a hassle-free credit, where there are no formalities and paperwork? And the icing on the cake would be the money getting topped up in your account as you keep paying back the borrowed amount.
You are wrong if you think this isn’t possible. MoneyTap, a Bangalore-based startup has made this dream a reality. The company claims to be India’s first app-based personal line of credit for consumers. MoneyTap is India’s first company that provides lifetime credit of up to Rs. 5 lakh instantly to its customers.
Started by three serial entrepreneurs, Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Verma, and Anuj Kacker, MoneyTap was incorporated in October 2015. It offers instant personal loans of up to Rs 5 Lakhs, with the entire KYC process happening through its mobile app. It is headquartered in Bangalore, India.
The startup aims to deliver quick and flexible personal loans to individuals in partnership with banks – smoothly and efficiently.
The MoneyTap app is a trustworthy and reliable one with many USPs. The app offers instant online loans through a 100% paperless process and doesn’t require a bank visit. Moreover, one has to pay interest only on the amount borrowed. A loan taken through their app is collateral-free and has flexible loan tenures of 2-36 months. MoneyTap is India’s first company that provides lifetime credit of up to Rs.5 lakh instantly to its customers.
Getting loans from MoneyTap is super easy. Eligible candidates need to download the app and fill the KYC. After completion of the KYC formalities, the loan is approved and the customer is given a MoneyTap credit card that’s loaded with the sanctioned amount. This can be used as a credit card or for withdrawing from the MoneyTap account. Once the repayments are done and there isn’t further need for an account, one can easily close the account through their website or the app.
To be Eligible for MoneyTap Loans, one needs to be between 23-55 years of age and should have a regular source of income. A person having as low as a minimum in-hand salary of Rs 15,000 per month can apply for loans on the platform.
A Complete Guide on How to get Instant Loan from MoneyTap
MoneyTap – Industry Details
With the significant increase in internet users, almost every solution is now available online. Like all other services, financial services have also become accessible through apps and online services. Many Fintech companies are cropping up in the Indian market.
India is amongst the fastest-growing Fintech markets in the world. Of the 2,100+ FinTechs existing in India today, over 67% have been set up in the last 5 years. The Indian Fintech market is currently valued at $31 Bn and is expected to grow to $84 Bn by 2025, at a CAGR of 22%.
The Fintech transaction value size is set to grow from US$ 66 Bn in 2019 to US$ 138 Bn in 2023, at a CAGR of 20%.
The Indian government is also launching initiatives to develop Visakhapatnam (Vizag) as the ‘fintech valley’.
MoneyTap CEO, BalaParthasarathy is the co-founder of multiple startups in Silicon Valley, including Snapfish (sold to Hewlett Packard). He has contributed immensely to the growth of Snapfish by gathering 100M users and $300M in revenue. Bala also volunteered for UIDAI under Mr Nandan Nilekani in 2007. He started AngelPrime, an angel investment firm in 2011 (now Prime Venture Partners). While working with AngelPrime he helped shape companies like ZipDial (sold to Twitter), EZETap, Happay, etc.
KunalVarma is a serial entrepreneur, who founded Whimsia Custom Works, a company for customized merchandise, and Aspirare, which designs learning programs and assessment solutions for job seekers and college graduates. Kunal along with Anuj Kacker also co-founded Tapstart, a job discovery platform.
Anuj Kacker is the COO of MoneyTap. Anuj has experience in diverse fields courtesy of working with established brands such as Airtel, Reliance, and JWT. He co-founded Tapstart which grew to 300K users and turned profitable within two years. Anuj exited Tapstart in 2015 to join MoneyTap.
With a small office in Mumbai and the headquarters in Bengaluru, the MoneyTap workforce is comprised of 30 people, as per 2019 data.
MoneyTap – The Idea And Launch
MoneyTap Founder
MoneyTap was founded keeping in mind the needs of the middle class. The salaried class is often constrained by monetary issues when it comes to satisfying needs. These needs can be anything like medical needs, school fees, or house rent.
The trio observed that just a minimal amount of credit could help the middle class take care of these needs easily. But extensive paperwork and formalities make people apprehensive about taking loans unless it’s a huge amount. Moreover, credit cards and personal loans are not very popular in India.
Besides, the middle class also finds it humiliating to borrow money from family and friends. MoneyTap was the solution to this conflation of issues.
The name MoneyTap was chosen because the app allows users to get money simply at the tap of the finger.
MoneyTap – How it Works?
The MoneyTap app, launched in partnership with the RBL Bank and several NBFCs, issues collateral-free credit up to a limit of Rs 5 Lakhs. The founders added that consumers can borrow anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5 Lakhs from the app and choose from among several repayment options with regards to time ranging from 2 to 36 months. MoneyTap and RBL also launched the RBL MoneyTap credit card. The card can be used like any other credit card for making online and offline payments. Users can also transfer money from the MoneyTap app to their bank accounts directly.
MoneyTap offers loans at an interest rate as low as 1.08% per month, and 13% to 18% per annum.
Consumers have to pay a one-time setup fee of Rs 499 along with taxes which is payable to the banking partner directly for blocking the credit limit.
We are trying to get the middle-income group to use our application. For us, the sweet spot is someone who earns in the salary bracket of Rs 40,000 – 50,000 monthly. However, we also don’t mind it being lower.
The founders also add that the money gets replenished as soon the customers start paying their EMIs. For example, an amount of Rs 30,000 borrowed (out of the credit limit of Rs 5 Lakh) will get replenished as the person pays their instalments over time, thus becoming available for borrowing in the future. Further, the onboarding of customers happens through a chatbot interface wherein the system instantly connects to the banking system and the credit bureau to find out the credit history of the customer. The money then gets approved accordingly.
MoneyTap adheres to strong business fundamentals since money lending requires attention to detail. The way it makes money is through a revenue share with banking partners. Every time a customer gets approved for access to a credit line for a lifetime, a small fee of Rs 500 is charged. Once the customer spends some money for one year, the money is recovered. Also, the usual interest paid by the customer along with the processing fees that are charged every time a person borrows also increases profitability.
MoneyTap is designed to be a product company running on the backbone of data science, technology, and product thinking. It is also focused on low-cost, tech-friendly solutions to pave the way towards increased revenue.
MoneyTap – Customer Acquisition
MoneyTap was successful in building a large customer base within a short period. Within eight months of its inception, the company acquired 300,000 registered users from 14 cities in India.
MoneyTap acquires some of its customers organically. The company also markets its products through Google, social media, and content marketing.
According to Bala, there are a billion consumers in the country, and MoneyTap serves only 1% of them. He considers that even doubling this figure to 2% is a huge win.
MoneyTap – Funding and Investors
Date
Stage
Amount
Investor
Jun 14, 2017
Series A
$12.3 million
Sequoia India, New Enterprise Associates, Prime Venture partners
Jan 28, 2020
Series B
$70 million
Sequoia Capital India, RTP Global, Prime Venture Partners, Aquiline Technology Growth & MegaDelta Capital
MoneyTap has raised $82.3 million in 2 rounds of funding to date. In the latest round, MoneyTap raised funding worth $70 Million (500 Crore) in January 2020. Here are the funding and investor details of MoneyTap.
The funding, as stated by Bala, has strengthened the leadership position of the consumer lending firm by improving credit accessibility for other customer segments.
The most challenging thing in the consumer lending business is acquiring capital at low costs.
Some of the major challenges faced by MoneyTap are:
Identifying trustworthy borrowers to whom credit can be disbursed without the fear of default.
Maintaining strong relations with banks and NBFCs.
MoneyTap – Competitors
Finomena is MoneyTap’s #1 competitor. Finomena was founded in 2015 in New Delhi. Like MoneyTap, Finomena also operates in the consumer finance space.
Other major rivals of MoneyTap are, PaySense and ZestMoney. Both of these companies, founded in 2015, function in the same segment. While PaySense is located in Mumbai, ZestMoney is located in Bangalore.
Besides, CreditVidya and Delhi-based Revfinalso competes with MoneyTap.
MoneyTap – Achievements
MoneyTap has more than 5 Million downloads. However, this number isn’t indicative of customers who hold a credit line, since the rejection rate from the pool of applicants can be as high as 60-70 per cent. This high rejection rate is due to the rigorous checks done by the app’s algorithms.
Almost 90 per cent of MoneyTap’s customers who have been issued credit lines are active and have drawn credit multiple times through the app. The average lending size of the company is Rs 30,000–35,000 and the average age of the customer is 28–30 years.
MoneyTap is currently operational in 60 Indian cities, with the majority of its users coming from the top metros like Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Chennai. The company is planning to expand its footprints to 200 cities soon. MoneyTap also claims to have its non-performing assets well within the one per cent mark.
MoneyTap was awarded the ‘Best Innovative Lending Product/Service’ in the Payment & Fintech category at the 8th India Digital Awards. The award show was organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). MoneyTap was also awarded the leading FinTech Company in the lending categoryat PICUP Fintech 2017.
MoneyTap – Acquisitions And Mergers
MoneyTap is not actively looking for acquisitions. Bala tells that MoneyTap might acquire companies sharing similar values.
MoneyTap – Partners
MoneyTap launched its product with RBL Bank, its first banking partner. With the help of RBL’s Technology, MoneyTap was able to serve customers with quick decisions and quick access to the money round the clock. Moreover, RBL Bank also provides a MoneyTap-RBL Credit Card with the credit line.
In 2017, MoneyTap announced a partnership with Aditya Birla Finance Limited (ABFL). MoneyTap also has several other banks and NBFCs as partners.
In December 2020, MoneyTap announced its partnership with Pawtect with a view to offering Pet Insurance Policies to their employees.
MoneyTap – Future Plans
MoneyTap’s plans include:
It is looking to expand to more Tier II and III cities in India, and to global markets with South East Asia and the Middle East.
The company currently claims to have a loan book of 1000 crores and aims to make it 5000 crores by 2021.
The company currently targets customers in the age group 29-31, with average incomes of INR 30,000-INR 40,000 per month, but is planning to reach out to groups having income as low as Rs 10000-15000 soon.
MoneyTap has also received an NBFC license in September 2019 and plans to launch its own NBFC company soon.
MoneyTap – FAQs
What is MoneyTap?
MoneyTap is a Fintech company that aims to deliver quick and flexible personal loans to individuals.
Who are the Founders of MoneyTap?
MoneyTap was founded by Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Varma, and Anuj Kacker in 2015.
How much is MoneyTap Funding?
MoneyTap has raised $82.3 million in 2 rounds of funding. In the latest round, MoneyTap raised funding worth $70 Million (500 Crore) in January 2020.
As it is correctly said, people who solve problems the best have suffered the most. Similarly, Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash being app developers themselves launched their startup HackerEarth in 2012 with the motive to build an entirely meritocratic system using a sufficiently objective measure for an app developer’s skills.
Their initiative was driven by the fact that the number of technology employment opportunities are growing at an exponential rate. And with the advent of digitization, more and more jobs are being available to Information Technology (IT) professionals. Still, there are a bunch of app developers who do not get the job they deserve.
HackerEarth mainly focuses on crowd sourcing solutions from the developers’ community. So, it ideally provides enterprise software solutions that help organizations to manage the firm with effective innovation and solve their technical recruitment needs.
HackerEarth Logo
They also have launched a second version of the innovation management software. This new version focuses on creating a holistic innovation management unit within the company itself. This, in turn, paves the way for enhancing greater creativity and a culture of innovation in the organization. Also, the new version puts extra focus on security, customization, and verticalization of the product across various industries.
All in all, HackerEarth’s innovation management software is a superiorly indispensable platform for enterprises that helps them to tackle various problems through internal and external audiences respectively.
HackerEarth – USP and Innovation
HackerEarth holds a community of more than 2 million-plus app developers coming from more than 57 countries backed by robust platforms to swiftly drive superior innovation in the industry.
HackerEarth also has launched an initiative where they enable enterprises to host innovation challenges for business-related problems and the startups can participate. This initiative is called Startup Connect.
The startups who perform well are shortlisted and get a chance to work with enterprises to co-create creative and innovative solutions.
HackerEarth was founded by Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash in 2012.
Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash
Both of the co-founders, Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash, are hardcore programming graduates from IIT Roorkee. And both of them at different points interned and also worked with Microsoft and Google
Sachin Gupta, CEO, and Co-founder – Having been a startup founder for most of his professional life, Sachin Gupta is an entrepreneur by heart. He claims that he absolutely loves doing whatever it takes to build a company and is powerfully driven by things that challenge him.
Vivek Prakash, CTO, and Co-founder – A programmer at heart, a dual degree holder in computer sciences. Vivek leads the Information Management Group at IIT Roorkee and has also been a part of Google Summer of Code program.
Currently with 120 members, HackerEarth has close to 45 people in engineering, 15 marketers, and 25 sales representatives, with the rest in operations.
How was HackerEarth Started?
Like many other startups, HackerEarth also started in the dorm room. These two individual’s passion for app development was at an all-time high when they were in college. Taking the same passion forward, they thought that it’d be a great idea to build a product that cultivates the culture of coding amongst the students in India.
And that’s how they came up with MyCareerStack. After its huge success, they again put their passion for driving seat and thought of exploiting the problems that companies face while recruiting. And to create a solution to this, they launched HackerEarth.
HackerEarth penetrated in the market with the strategy for creating programming courses to majorly serve two purposes:
To enable the programmers to practice and learn code.
And to allow the programmers to compete with other programmers through exciting and meaningful contests.
HackerEarth has created some interesting programming challenges with certain levels of difficulty which appeal to all the developers on a global level. They are called Hackathons.
Hackathons provide a great platform for developers to showcase their talent. These type of programs keeps the programmers engaged and allows them to practice and learn code in a fun way. At HackerEarth, the range of learning varies from basic concepts to advanced ones. The basic concepts include modules like Algorithms and Data structures and the advanced concepts include modules like Machine Learning.
HackerEarth – Business Model and Revenue Model
So ideally, there are two products that HackerEarth has to offer. Both the products are essentially sold as SaaS:
HackerEarth Sprint– It is an innovation management software that helps companies drive creativity and innovation through internal and external talent pools. This includes its global community of 2M+ developer and they work with large enterprises, SMBs, Universities, and Government entities to help them effectively solve their innovation needs.
HackerEarth Recruit– This is a more on the technology side. It is a technical recruitment interface that helps in optimum technical talent screening which allows its clients to build a strong and proficient team.
HackerEarth – Startup Challenges
The biggest challenge for HackerEarth like any other startup is to scale the programmers and keep them engaged on HackerEarth. It seems like stronger the hub, easier is the business operations. So for HackerEarth, everything stems from the hub and scaling it across the world is the biggest hurdle to toss.
HackerEarth has raised a total of $11.5M in funding over 5 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Nov 1, 2018 from a Series B round.
Here is a list of all the funding rounds of HackerEarth-
Date
Stage
Amount
Investor
June 2013
Venture Round
–
–
February 2014
Seed Round
$500K
Prime Venture Partners
April 2014
Seed Round
–
–
February 2017
Series A
$4.5 Million
DHI Group Inc
November 2018
Series B
$6.5 Million
–
HackerEarth – Growth
HackerEarth’s corporate client’s list is seamlessly unending. This list includes huge companies like Wipro and Adobe.
Since the launch to now, HackerEarth has been growing exponentially. Now, they are a team of 120+ people, are catering to more than doubled user base and grew their revenues 5X.
Also, HackerEarth has grown into a global community of 2+ million developers driving creativity and innovation to the field like a force.
Expanding the brand presence across other countries with a prime focus on US, Europe, and SouthEast Asia is number one on the list of HackerEarth’s plans.
HackerEarth is aiming to be the largest platform for developers. Hence their long term plan is to add over a million more programmers to this community over the next few years.
“This is the right time for us to look at markets overseas, when our India business is still growing, rather than a time when we are reaching saturation in this market. At present, 85 percent of our revenues come from India and 15 percent from international markets. In three years, we see this balancing out to a 50-50.”, said Sachin Gupta, co-founder of HackerEarth.
Michelle D’souza
