Did you know?

82% of consumers rate user experience as a key factor that decides their stay with a bank, credit card, or loan provider!

Now, that’s a stat no bank can choose to ignore.

Transforming transactions into experiences

Customer-centricity is a strategic necessity for banks today. Turning transactions into personalized lifestyle experiences is what will keep customers from switching to competitors.

Neobanks lead this tectonic shift in the digital banking landscape by bridging the gap between conventional banking services and evolving customer expectations. High on personalization and flexibility, neobanks have transformed the way consumers bank.

New to the world of neobanks?

Now, don’t you confuse neobanks with digital banks. Apart from offering banking services over digital platforms, there are in no way similar.

Neobanks are fintech firms and NBFCs that provide cost-efficient and personalized financial services to gig economy employees, blue-collared workers, and small businesses. Neobanks deliver mobile-first, customer-centric services by leveraging deep tech and low-cost, agile, and lean business models.

Free from the hurdles of legacy systems, tight value chains, complex administrative structures, and stringent regulatory requirements, neobanks focus on convenience, seamlessness, and alternative methods to assess creditworthiness.

Curious to know more about neobanks? Read our 101 article on neobanking.

Top Neobanks in India

As Asia’s top fintech hub with 87% fintech adoption, India is one of the forerunners in the neobanking revolution. The Indian fintech industry has raised more than $10 billion in the last 5 years. It is estimated to grow at 22% CAGR to $84 billion by 2025.

Neobanks in India operate on a low-cost model with minimal to zero monthly fees on deposits and withdrawals, and rock-bottom balance requirements. These drivers bring consumers and businesses across income levels into the fintech fold, fostering financial inclusion.

Can’t wait to know who are the top neobanks in India? And what makes them leaders in the Indian fintech landscape?

Here you go!

RazorpayX
Fampay
Niyo
Open
Freo
Fi Money
Jupiter
InstantPay
Muvin
Finin
Akudo
SaveIn
Zikzuk
OCareNeo

RazorpayX

Let’s start off with RazorPayX, the neobanking product from fintech unicorn RazorPay.

Headquartered in Bangalore, RazorpayX was founded by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar in 2014. A disruptor in the world of digital payments, Razorpay started as an API and dashboard payouts platform for merchants. Today, it is a one-stop-shop disrupting and powering payment ecosystems for businesses.

RazorpayX helps businesses manage their finances, automate payroll, schedule payments, and invoices. Along with providing higher credit limits for business spending, it also simplifies spend tracking and management. Businesses can automate tax payments, get instant loans without collaterals, manage cash flows, and enjoy simpler accounting.

Its parent company RazorPay raised a total of $366.6 million in funding in eight rounds with over 30 investors. Key investors include Salesforce Ventures, Matrix Partners India, GIC, Combinator, Ribbit Capital, and Sequoia Capital India.

Fampay

Winner of the Economic Times Start-up Awards (ETSA)2021 in the Best on Campus category, Fampay is the next neobank we’re going to explore.

Based in Bangalore, Fampay was founded by Kush Taneja, Sambhav Jain, in 2019 to create a financially aware generation. A neobanking app exclusively for teenagers, Fampay aims to drive Gen Z from cash to digital in a safe, family-friendly medium. It offers financial services such as bank accounts, P2P, UPI, and card payments under parental supervision.

Famcard, its co-branded (IDFC FIRST Bank) prepaid card is highly secure and available both online/ offline, with no hidden fees. Designed as a numberless doodle card in partnership with VISA, Fampay uses Famcoins to reward its users. With more than two million users, Fampay strives to improve financial independence among the youth. It also enables payments on platforms such as Amazon, Zomato, and Netflix.

Fampay raised $42.9 million in three funding rounds with 16 investors, including Elevation, Sequoia Capital India, Venture Highway, General Catalyst, Combinator, and GFC.

Niyo

When it comes to being a champion of financial inclusion, Niyo stands second to none. Its goal of reaching out to 5 million blue-collar workers by March 2022 is indeed impressive.

Based in Bangalore, Niyo was founded by Vinay Bagri and Virender Bisht in 2015. By integrating M2P APIs, Niyo delivers simple, safe, and smart digital banking solutions to blue-collar workers.

Niyo offers products such as NiyoX, Niyo Global, Niyo Money, and Niyo Bharat. NiyoX is a zero balance, zero commission savings account in partnership with Equitas Small Finance Bank. Niyo Global provides a multicurrency travel card in collaboration with SBM and DCB bank. It is accepted by merchants in over 150 countries. Niyo Money is a wealth management solution (with in-built Robo-advisors) that can also be used for mutual funds and stock investments.

And the icing on top of the cake is Niyo Bharat, which offers a lifetime zero balance prepaid card with multilingual support. With instant money transfer facility, this card comes with no hidden fees and transparent pricing.

In 2020, even amidst the pandemic, Niyo bagged the highest funding value among neobanking startups in India. It raised $49.2 million in three rounds of funding, with lead investors Tencent, Prime Venture Partners, JS Capital, and Horizons Ventures.

Open

The closest competitor to fintech unicorn RazorPay, Open broke Niyo’s funding record by raising $100 million in 2021(backed by Temasek, Google, and SBI Investment). This is one of the biggest funding in the Indian fintech landscape.

Founded in 2017 by Anish Achuthan, Ajeesh Achuthan, Mabel Chacko, and Deena Jacob in Bangalore, Open delivers a seamless business banking experience for startups and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Open offers a robust business account that enables seamless banking, payments, auto reconciliation, and expense management. Serving more than 15,00,000 SMEs, it processes $24 billion transactions annually by partnering with Axis Bank, YES Bank, ICICI Bank, SBM Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Freo

Based in Bangalore, Freo is the first of its kind, credit-led Neobank in India.

To those new to the credit-led neobank concept, here’s what it means. This category of neobank offers credit cards and loans first and then creates saving accounts for them. Nubank and Neon are examples of credit-led financial institutions.

Now, returning to Freo…

With a goal to make credit flexible, convenient, and affordable, Anuj Kacker, Bala Parthasarathy, and Kunal Varma founded Freo in 2015. It helps customers build financial health, get credit, save, and spend in smarter ways.

By partnering with IDFC FIRST Bank, RBL Bank, TapStart, Acko, Credit Saison India, DMI Finance, HDB Financial services, and Fullerton India, Freo offers services such as savings accounts, credit lines, credit cards, pay later apps, and financial utilities. Its key products are Freo PAY- to buy and payback later, Freo SAVE - a savings account to build credit health, and Freo CARD- for making flexible payments. These products are designed to improve the digital lending and banking experience for millennials.

Fi Money

The brainchild of Gpay pioneers, Fi Money is the next neobank on our list.

Fi Money was founded by Sujith Narayanan and Sumit Gwalani in 2019 in Bangalore, with an aim to simplify finance and demystify savings. It focuses on reimagining the banking services for working professionals.

With the help of the financial app that comes with a zero-balance savings account, the users can save and spend wisely, organize their funds, and grow their money.

Fi collaborates with their partner bank, Federal Bank, to help users access their savings account and VISA debit cards. This neobank has raised $13.2 million over a seed funding round with Sequoia India and Ribbit Capital investors.

Jupiter

Going viral with #Experiencethenew, Jupiter is on its waxing moon ride across the zenith. With its beta released in June this year, more than 1.5 lakh early access requests came in from users within the first two weeks of the launch. Today Jupiter aims to onboard one million users by end of 2021.

Based in Mumbai, Jupiter was founded by Citrus Pay founder Jitendra Gupta in 2019 to create an exclusive banking experience for millennials.

Yes, we mean exclusive.

Going forward, new users will be added on an invite-only basis.

Jupiter partners with Federal Bank and Axis Bank to offer debit cards, savings accounts, and Save in Pots (digital piggy bank). Its specialties are the remarkable reward, zero hidden fees, and no unexpected charges. Users can instantly create a bank account and track expenses, legal, and auditing structures.

Jupiter has raised a total of $69 million with its 13 investors in Series B. The investors are Global Founders Capital, Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India, and Nubank. In 2021, Jupiter has acquired Easyplan, an AI-powered savings app for investments.

InstantPay

Heard of the futuristic contactless card powered by RuPay that offers 1% cashback on most spends?

Let’s look at InstantPay, the neobank that lets you earn while you spend.

Founded in 2013 by Shailendra Agarwal, Mohammad Rehan, and Sankalp Shangari in New Delhi, InstantPay focuses on delivering full-stack banking services to individuals, SMEs, and large businesses. By partnering with ICICI Bank, AXIS Bank, IndusInd Bank, and YES Bank, InstantPay offers Personal and Business banking solutions and provides access to recharges, bill payments, travel bookings, etc.

Another interesting solution InstantPay offers is Inclusive Banking. Here users who are not comfortable with the online world can locate InstantPay Digi Kendras (branches)and can access banking insurance services, make travel bookings, pay educational fees, apply for loans, apply for PAN and other social schemes from there.

The neobank processes 1 million daily transactions and 10 million transactions every month with 60,000 micro-merchants worldwide. Instant pay has raised around $ 340 million through Seed funding with Kaleden Holdings and RB Investments Limited investments.

Muvin

Next on our list is Muvin, a promising newcomer in the Indian neobanking space. This youth-focused Bengaluru-headquartered neobank was founded by Vineet Gupta and Mukund Rao in 2020 with a mission to empower our youth to be financially responsible and independent. Muvin caters to both teens and young adults, driving financial literacy and inclusion through its prepaid card and mobile app. Muvin recently raised $3 million as a part of its pre-Series A funding round led by WaterBridge Ventures, with participation from Alteria Capital and Krishna Bhupal, Co-Founder, Rational Pricing Technologies, and board members of GVK Power & Infra.

Heading towards building India’s leading youth-focused neobank, Muvin has over 50,000 registered users and aims to reach one million customers in a year. With constant innovation and tech stack support from API providers, Muvin plans to bring in several new features over the next quarters to substantially upgrade the user experience.

Finin

Hyper-personalization is the need of the hour for the banking industry. And Finin neobank offers this personalized financial independence.

Based in Bangalore, Finin was founded by Suman Gandham and Sudheer Maram in 2019. An acronym for Financial independence, Finin is a neobank that helps students and the millennial workforce to manage, invest, and save money.

Finin leverages APIs from M2P and partners with SBM Bank to offer Easy Savings and Automated Money Management. Powered with AI-based technology, users can now integrate all their banking accounts, get a unified account view, keep track of transactions, manage their save-spend behavior, and invest smartly. In 2020, Finin raised an undisclosed amount of investment through seed funding.

Akudo

Finance and money management are life skills that need to be instilled from a very young age. Akudo delivers this learning through its neobanking service.

Based in South Bengaluru, Akudo was founded by Lavika Aggarwal, Sajal Khanna, and Jagveer Gandhi in 2020. Akudo is a learning-focused neobank that aims to create financially independent teenagers.

Akudo partners with VISA and RBL Bank and offers teens a smart card (personalized debit card with parental supervision) to inculcate savings habits with a gamified setup that gives them rewards.

With over one lakh registered users, Akudo has also raised a $4.2 million investment from a seed funding round, having a total of 13 investors, including Y-Combinator and Incubate Fund India.

SaveIn

Remember the days when we would ask our friends and neighbors for help when we fall short of money? That’s one of the many services SaveIn facilitates in this digital era.

Connecting lenders and borrowers.

Based in New Delhi, SaveIn was founded by Anurag Varma, Gaurav Luthra, and Jitin Bhasin in 2020. The neobank aims to revolutionize the banking experience by making finance social.

SaveIn provides banking products that are fun, simpler, and secure with real-time discovery and matchmaking of lenders and borrowers. The neobanking platform helps you connect with trusted lenders to borrow money quickly.

SaveIn partners with banks, payment gateways that the RBI licenses to offer secure products. The neobank has raised an undisclosed amount of funds over a pre-seed round.

Zikzuk

SMEs are the lifeline of our economy. Zikzuk enables assistance and intelligence to SMEs through its data and credit services.

Based in Telangana, Zikzuk was founded by Raj N in 2020. The neobank aims to empower, create a sustainable financial ecosystem, and foster the growth of SMEs.

Zikzuk offers founder credit cards with the help of AI/ML data-driven business intelligence that helps SMEs manage their business better. The neobank provides credit lines for business owners, and through their FoundersCard (credit card designed for the founders, by the founders), SMEs can receive support to make data-driven decisions.

ZikZuk provides data aggregation and connected banking for its users to access all their bank accounts in one place. The connected banking feature offers a single, secured window that can be maintained for all user accounts.

OCareNeo

Heard of health neobank?

Probably not.

Because OCareNeo is India’s first digital health and banking platform. The brainchild of doctors, bankers, technologists, insurance experts, data scientists with more than 300 years of cumulative experience, OCareNeo was founded by Dr. Neeraj Sheth in 2015. The neobank works towards enhancing the future of banking and healthcare and envisions bridging the gap in healthcare with the help of fintech, thereby improving the whole healthcare ecosystem.

The neobank app offers QR codes for quick scanning and viewing of medical history, digital/virtual cards that cover all their medical expenses, and digital piggy banks to save for the future. OCareNeo also provides a digital health passport to its users that give instant access to health and financial information to help people in their medical needs and helps with management funds.

Now don’t be overwhelmed!

You’ve only dipped your toes in the ocean of neobanks.

To know more about the rise of this new age of neobanking, click here.

Now that you’re at this section of the article, we are sure you are a man/woman with a mission.

We are curious about what brings you here.

Are you someone who wanted to know more about different types of neobanks? Or just wanted to know how a neobank functions and APIs and the science behind it all?

Get in touch with us at business@m2pfintech.com. We’d love to talk about your neobanking journey.

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