New Delhi (NVI) India’s first social finance-based neo bank, SaveIN, today said it has raised an undisclosed amount in pre-seed funding round from a clutch of Indian and international angel investors and industry stalwarts across banking, consulting, block chain, credit bureau and fintech.
SaveIN is a first of its kind platform that aims to organize India’s largest personal loans market – lending / borrowing amongst family / friends and acquaintances (with or without interest) and aims to disrupt the personal finance market with its innovative products, according to a press release issued by the company.
“Over 75% of Indians lend and borrow money among each other, especially for their short-term loan requirements, we have created India’s first and only social finance platform, that aims to organize this large market of transactions amongst friends, family and acquaintances facilitating discovery, matchmaking and record keeping of such transactions,” said SaveIN Founder and CEO Jitin Bhasin.
“We want to positively impact the financial health of Indians, by leveraging their own trusted network and providing access to need-based and contextual financial products. The company is looking to use recently raised funds to expand its market reach, accelerate product development, and strengthen its in-house team. We aim to reach over 5 lakh users by the end of this fiscal year,” he said.
According to a Survey by CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids, there is a paradigm shift in the way people borrowed, especially during the pandemic in 2020.
Rather than approaching banks and financial institutions, people relied more on family, friends, acquaintances (including shopkeepers) for their short-term needs.
SaveIN identified this gap to develop India’s first social finance platform to tap the potential of large market of lending and borrowing among family, friends, acquaintances and in the process, also creating large alternate credit assessment data pools
The company launched the beta phase of its operations in April 2021 and has already recorded over 10,000 downloads of its mobile app on Google Playstore, the release said.
“As part of its growth plans, SaveIN aims to offer a full scale, hyper-personalized, financial experience to its customers in association with partner institutions like banks, insurance and mutual fund companies, thereby offering a comprehensive suite of products and services in the retail personal finance domain,” Bhasin said.
