Can we get introduced to the Founders of MoneyTap?

Bala Parthasarathy is the Chairman & Co-founder of MoneyTap, India's fastest growing consumer lending platform.

After graduating from IIT Madras, he went to the Silicon Valley where he co-founded multiple startups including Snapfish (sold to HP for $300M). After moving back to India in 2007, he volunteered for Aadhaar under Nandan Nilekani & co-founded Prime Ventures, India’s largest Seed Stage Technology Fund that has invested in a number of innovative companies such as EZEtap, Happay, SmartOwner, etc.

Anuj Kacker is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. He is a serial entrepreneur, and has exited successful startups in the past. Earlier, Anuj spent five years in the advertising industry where he worked with top agencies such as Lowe and JWT. After completing his MBA from ISB, Hyderabad, Anuj spent five years in the telecom industry with Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel. While at ISB, he was the marketing club president and received the ‘Young Leader Award’ for contribution to ISB and its community.

Managing diverse teams in Operations and Marketing, Anuj dons many hats at MoneyTap.

Kunal Varma is the Co-founder & Chief Business Officer. He has founded two other companies before MoneyTap. He spent more than seven years in the field of technology and R&D, building next gen semiconductor products for wireless and handheld devices in engineering management positions at Texas Instruments before starting his entrepreneurial journey. Kunal did his B. Tech in Computer Science from IIT Roorkee and holds an MBA in Marketing & Strategy from ISB, Hyderabad.

What is the Vision behind the idea of MoneyTap? How did it originate?

With 50 Crore smartphones & only 4 Crore credit cards, there is a big opportunity in the market for a credit-card-like product on the smartphone. MoneyTap fills this gap by issuing an app-based, revolving line of credit – like a virtual credit card adapted to the Asian market. It can be used for middle-class Asian credit needs that include small cash loans, credit on mobile wallets besides merchant transactions.

It originated out of Bala’s work during his stint at UIDAI. In meeting thousands of people across the spectrum, he saw an opportunity in using data and technology to make it cheaper to provide credit for middle-class consumers in India.

What were the key challenges and bottlenecks faced in the Journey of MoneyTap?

The biggest challenge comes down to our algorithms and consumer experience. MoneyTap has the best combination of these to provide an easy experience for the customer and yet have the lowest NPAs in the industry. In credit, it’s easy to lend money and a great experience to the customer if a company just issues credit to everyone who applies. Equally, it’s easy to have a low NPA by just denying credit to almost everyone but the highest salary/CIBIL individual (this is what the banks do). But it’s hard to do both, and that’s what MoneyTap has accomplished.

The second biggest challenge is in partnering with banks and institutions, complying with RBI’s strict requirements and security, KYC, etc. and yet on the other side providing a simple and intuitive way for consumers to apply and use credit. Being user-friendly and yet RBI compliant is a difficult challenge that MoneyTap had to overcome.

What is your philosophy when it comes to doing business?

We believe in the long game. Credit is a business that requires patience and discipline and in order to scale the business and be around in the long-term, we need to be highly calibrated and rigorous in our approach.

What differentiates MoneyTap from other lending platforms?

MoneyTap provides quick, easy and hassle-free credit up to ?5 Lakh without any collaterals or guarantors. Customers apply on the app using our Chatbot and can get an instant credit decision within 4 minutes.

Once approved, MoneyTap Credit Line is available to use 24x7. Any amount (as low as ?3,000 – up to the entire limit) from the approved limit can be borrowed multiple times. Interest is charged only on the amount borrowed, and the rates can be as low as 1.08% per month (13% per annum).
Customers can choose convenient repayment options with EMI tenure choice of 2 - 36 months. The best part is, credit limit gets replenished automatically as the EMIs are repaid.

One of our banking partners also provides a complimentary credit card along with the credit line.

What was the Go-To Market Strategy at the time of inception in the already competitive Fintech market?

MoneyTap is primarily digital marketing driven in terms of the Go-To Market strategy. Although there is a lot of noise in the market, there are very few scalable lending platforms with a Credit Line value proposition like MoneyTap.


How do you plan to face the ever-rising competition from the new players entering the segment as well?


Given that only 3-4% of the market has credit, if we combine not only the Fintech companies, but all the banks and large NBFCs, the market is 96% open. So, new players are not an issue at all.

What is the amount of Funding you have raised so far?

We raised $12.3 Million Series A funding led by Sequoia India, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and Prime Venture Partners in 2017.

Would you like to share some statistics of MoneyTap?

We have 5 Million+ installs of the MoneyTap app and have disbursed over ?1,000 Crore as credit.



Where do you envision to see the above numbers reach in the next 2-3 years?

We expect our numbers to triple next year and double the year after.

Which are the cities MoneyTap is operational in? Are there any expansion plans on the cards?
Currently present in 40+ cities, we are aiming to reach 100+ cities soon.

Delhi, NCR (Delhi, New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon)

Mumbai (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane), Pune, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nashik
Hyderabad & Secunderabad
Tirupati
Lucknow
Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Anand, Rajkot, Surat, Bharuch
Haridwar, Dehradun
Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Erode
Bangalore, Mangalore
Jaipur, Jodhpur
Kolkata
Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Ambala
Indore, Bhopal
Visakhapatnam (Vizag), Vijayawada
Kochi

Coming to other cities soon!

What is your message for the Entrepreneurship enthusiasts?

Dream Big. Take Risks. Never Give Up.


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