Financial Inclusion Lab, an initiative of IIM-Ahmedabad, supported by JPMorgan, along with other philanthropic investors, has selected eleven fintech startups.
These startups will be mentored in the use of technology-based strategies such as automation, underwriting and machine learning to help improve the financial health of lower- and middle-income (LMI) people, farmers and small entrepreneurs in India.
“Fintech presents a unique opportunity to promote the financial health of India’s underserved households who struggle to adopt digital platforms for their financial needs, ” said Kalpana Morparia, CEO, South and South East Asia, JPMorgan.
IIM-A’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) has collaborated with JPMorgan and other philanthropic investors to set up $9.5 million Financial Inclusion Lab, to serve the underserved communities in India.
Here are the 11 startups selected by The Financial Inclusion Lab:
- Easyplan: Founded by Manisha Pandita and Sanjay Gandhi in 2017, Mumbai-based Easyplan provides a platform that helps Indians to save money in an effortless manner.
- ExpressMOJO: Founded by Akshay Gautam and Dipankar Sarkar in 2016, New Delhi-based ExpressMOJO provides free online classifieds enabling small fleet owners to search from a pan-India list of trusted transporters and brokers to work with.
- Finlok: Founded by Tanuj Sinha and Atish Potdar in 2017, Pune-based Finlok provides hassle-free credit lending to the underbanked by leveraging their social networks.
- GramCover: Founded by Jatin Singh and Rishabh Garg, Noida-based GramCover works with insurers to create simple, affordable, and easy-to-understand insurance products, using technology to deliver them to India’s rural population.
- Jai Kisan: Founded by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego in 2017, Pune-based Jai Kisan provides a technology platform to help farmers secure low-cost financing, for their agricultural needs.
- Kaarva: Founded by Khushboo Maheshwari and Agam Goyal in 2018, Bengaluru-based Kaarva provides instant small credit up to 5,000 rupees to low and middle-income salaried individuals, to address their short-term needs.
- MunshiG: Udaipur-based MunshiG is an AI-powered Bookkeeping tool for Kirana (unorganized retail stores). It aims to bring in an affordable yet intuitive solution, by bridging the gap between Kirana and technology.
- Navaana Tech: The startup uses voice-assisted and image-based friendly digital interfaces to improve the quality of life for individuals with low levels of literacy.
- SureClaim: Founded by Anuj Jindal in 2017, Bengaluru-based SureClaim provides an intelligent platform to assist its users to process insurance claims.
- WonderLend Hubs: Founded by Ramakrishnan Ramdas and Rajesh Iyer in 2016, Mumbai-based WonderLend Hubs is a digital platform that uses financial and social data to create credit profiles resulting in shortened turnaround times and lower rejection rates for MSMEs and individual borrowers who lack sufficient credit history.
- XtraCap: New Delhi-based XtraCap uses GST (Goods & Services Tax) data to assess the credit risk of small businesses, providing them access to short term liquidity against supplier invoices.
“Technology-based innovations offer tremendous opportunities to create solutions that enhance financial resilience of underserved communities,” said Sanjay Jain, Chief Innovation Officer, CIIE “We look forward to working with these start-ups to de-risk their journeys towards sustainability and commercial viability”.