4 Fintech Startups Redefining Digital Payments with RBI

ToneTag: Backed by Amazon and MasterCard ToneTag, a proximity communication company and the largest sound network, has recently announced the success of its PoC, focusing on a contactless, sound wave-based payment service, in the regulatory sandbox set up by the RBI. The solution is set to redefine the digital payment space by creating a seamless experience for customers, enabling them to avoid the hassle of making cash as well as touch-based digital payments. ToneTag’s sound-based technology can enable it from any mobile phone, including feature phones used by more than 600 million Indians. Through this innovation, the company aims to bridge the last-mile financial inclusion in the country, enabling rural India – where smartphone penetration is low – to go cashless. Being a software element, it can easily be integrated into existing devices, making it highly compatible and accessible to everyone. Transactions are highly secure and frictionless, creating a seamless experience for users. ToneTag aims to revolutionize the payment ecosystem with simple but robust technology. 

CityCash:  CityCash is a start-up company in the fintech industry bringing state-of-the-art technologies and unique business models in the digital payments space with a focus on NFC based card payments. Started as an initiative to make India ‘Less Cash’ and offer digital payments for everyone, CityCash designs, deploys and operates low cost offline and online payment technologies focused on the underserved space of high volume, low value payments. Based in Mumbai, CityCash was founded in 2017 by veterans of the Investment Banking, Private Equity and Technology industries.

Ubona Technologies: Ubona Technologies, founded in 2007, operates a voice-based UPI payments solution that facilitates offline person-to-person (P2P) and P2M transactions using mobile phones, including feature phones. Ubona's flagship recommendation technology employs sophisticated algorithms and data modelling to identify and classify consumer responses derived heuristically. Presenting the right service at the right time to the right consumer is their fundamental interaction strategy for small real estate devices and voice-based value-added services.

Eroute Technologies: Eroute Technologies operates a UPI-based offline payments solution using SIM overlay smartcard placed on the SIM, to drive SIM tool kit (STK) menu-based user interface to facilitate P2P/P2M transactions. It is a card-based consumer payment company with a mission to redefine spending experiences with real-time visibility and control overspends that enrich the consumer's lives for responsible and sustainable future. They believe in delivering simple, secure and reliable omnichannel digital payment solutions with innovative technologies, product and designs with a blend of personalisation across communities.