Fintech Startups To Watch-Out For in 2021

The Covid pandemic acted as a booster shot for the country’s fintech sector, giving it the much-needed energy and growth trajectory to expand its footprint across the nation. The year-on-year growth in volume stood at 70% from 1.30 Bn transactions in December 2019 to 2.2 Bn in 2020, while the value of UPI transactions increased 105% from INR 2.02 lakh crore in December 2019 to INR 4.16 lakh Cr in December 2020.

Hereby enclosing,  Fintech startups to watchout for 2021, that changed the market dynamics with their innovations:

1. Indifi Technologies: Indifi Technologies is a Gurgaon-based lending platform, enabling debt-financing for small businesses. It aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as speed and convenience of the loan process. Driven by the idea of expanding access to MSME financing in India, Indifi has emerged as an enabler for start-ups and small businesses seeking seamless access to funding. Indifi expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs. Since its inception, Indifi has served numerous businesses with its large array of credit options. To take this vision forward, Indifi has launched industry-specific credit products that meet the working capital requirements of that segment. It has recently forayed into the pharma segment and these associations with Retailio and Marg ERP is another step to serve a larger base of customers in this segment.

2. ToneTag: ToneTag is driven to realize mobile experiences and interactions as a service. The technology uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline and proximity data communication on any device. 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 a simple but robust technology. It has recently announced the success of its PoC, focusing on a contactless, soundwave-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.

3. PhoneParLoan: Catering to thin-file customers in India and Bharat alike, PhoneParLoan is a mobile-first credit platform that extends loans to ‘New to Credit’ (NTC) customers alongside traditional retail borrowers. The novelty of PhoneParLoan is that it unifies the loan-application process to multiple lenders via lender API-integrations and solves the problem of borrowers struggling with multiple lending app downloads and trials to get a loan from one. Incorporated in 2019, the mobile-first platform has a strong focus on areas with low credit penetration including tier 2, tier 3, and tier 4 cities as well as rural regions.It has today simplified the lending for both lenders and their end-customers. It has done it using its state-of-the-art, tech-driven approach that is both user-friendly and transparent. Some of its partners include Money-View, Bajaj Auto Finance, HDFC Bank, Credit Vidya, and Early Salary alongside others.

4.  Cashfree: Cashfree is a full stack payments solution. It helps Indian businesses accept and send money and is used by 50,000+ businesses for vendor payouts, wage payouts, bulk refunds etc.It is next generation payment gateway that is easy to integrate and supports instant refunds. Cashfree is also India’s leading API banking platform that lets businesses send money round-the-clock and instantly to bank accounts and cards with a simple API that can be integrated with their product, instead of uploading complicated files on their corporate banking portal.It also offers a split payment solution for marketplaces, a Bank Account Verification API and Auto Collect -- a virtual account solution to match inbound payments to customers. Cashfree is integrated with major platforms like Shopify, Paypal, Amazon Pay, Google Pay and Ola money (wallet and postpaid both).