The startups operate and are majorly dependent on the funding and the investors. It is through these rounds of funding that the startups’ can plan the future operations which may be of expanding into a new area, or introducing a new product or a service line, or acquiring a new business.
The startups go through various rounds of funding, thus increasing their valuation by every round. The foreign investors keep an eye on the Indian startups, keeping a note of the working and the plans of the startups, and thus invest accordingly. These funding rounds give a push to these upcoming startups, thus giving them the confidence to move ahead.
Many different types of startups are coming up. With different areas being focused on, these startups are coming up with new and interesting ideas. Almost 13 Indian startups have received so much funding in the pandemic times, that they ended up entering the golden “Unicorn Club”.
Many of the new members of the Unicorn Club are from the fintech industries, the Ed-tech industries. These two sectors were able to operate easily during the lockdown period when all other businesses were not able to function and operate and many of them even had to shut their businesses.
So, the latest funding news which has come is of a fintech startup FamPay.
The company has raised USD 38 million in another round of funding, as announced on June 16, 2021. This round of funding was the Series A round of funding which was led by Elevation Capital.
The other participants of the round were General Catalyst, Rocketship VC, Greenoaks Capital, and even the existing investors’ Sequoia Capital India, Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, and Venture Highway. After this round of funding, the total value of the funds raised by the company has turned to USD 42.7 million. This amount of funding in a round has made it one of the largest Series A rounds in India.
In 2020, a seed round of funding took place wherein co-founder of Twitter Kevin Lin, Co-founder of Robinhood, Vladimir Tenev, founder of Cred, Kunal Shah, and the CEO of Pine Labs, Amrish Rau had invested in the company.
The startup aims to use the funds raised to build a team with a strong leadership pursuit, in order to support more growth and expansion. The valuation of the company after this round of funding has grown 6X the value that was before the funding round.
Founded in 2019 by the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee(IIT-R) graduates, Sambhav Jain and Kush Taneja, FamPay was founded keeping in mind the teenagers of the country. It is focused on the financial independence of the teenagers, helping them to make online as well as offline payments through the FamPay application and the card issued by the company which is a numberless card that is a co-branded prepaid card issued by ODC FIRST Bank.
Parents deposit money in the FamPay accounts of the teenagers, thus even keeping a record of the spendings made. The account and the card of FamPay are activated only after parents give their permission. Teenagers do not need a bank account for making payments using FamPay. The device here is secured and locked and all the payments can be made by the card only. Besides giving the option of payments, FamPay also gives the benefits of savings through games, thus allowing teenagers to learn, save, and grow.
The FamCard claims itself to be-
I have no hidden fees
I will protect your money like no one else
I love to shop and pay for my friends with just a tap
I am a numberless prepaid card and loves to wear black
It also provides the FamCoins as a way of reward, which when redeemed can be used in giveaways, contests.
Teenagers do not have financial independence in the country, whereas in other countries like the U.S. they are given all the freedom to manage their expenses. There are many startups working in this area targeting teenagers in the US, like Till Financial, Step, and Greenlight, but there are none in India.
This can be a good initiative as the majority of the population of India belong to the target age group category. According to a partner at Elevation Capital, Mridul Arora, if the startup is able to achieve the target of financially serving the most attractive part of the population, then over a period of time the company will become the go-to product for a lot of options in the future.
According to the co-founder Sambhav Jain, the startup is currently at a beginning stage. The startup plans to become a neobank for teenagers by providing them services which they can keep with them forever. He further said that the teenagers come from the world of Netflix and Snapchat, thus becoming tech-savvy.
The startup aims to reach Gen Z through its ways which include gamification, a lot of technology, and the internet. The partner at Elevation Capital, Mridul Arora said that FamPay is not just a getaway for payments. If successful, it can provide a powerful platform to teenagers, thus supporting their financial life.
The startup has more than 2 million registered users and is growing at a very good rate. This startup has definitely brought in some fresh perspective and business. Let us see what changes it brings to the country!
