Finlok a Pune based Fintech startup founded by Tanuj Sinha and Atish Potdar, has been selected to be part of the first cohort of the Mumbai Fintech Accelerator. The Mumbai Fintech Accelerator is a unique Public-Private partnership bringing together Industry experts, financial institutes, the Government of Maharashtra with a vision to create a Mumbai a global hub for fintech under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis..
At the launch event Ms Suniti Nanda, the Fintech Officer, Government of Maharashtra kicked off the event by saying “It’s time to unleash the big potential for Mumbai . There is a huge opportunity of collaboration between Fintech startups , financial institutes , VC/PE firms, academic institutes, influencers and Government”
Finlok, a group saving platform that aims to digitise the informal group based financial models, is one of 13 fintech startups selected to be part of the Mumbai Fintech Accelerator. The startups were selected as part of a grueling selection process that started with interactions during the Fintech Yatra organized by Abhishant Pant. At the launch event Abhishant said “Access to market, Funding and financial services talent is key to the growth of Fintech Industry and Mumbai wins hands down on all of these parameters. MFA conceptualised and built by “the fintech meet-up” is an attempt to act as a catalyst in achieving above objective.”
Tanuj, CEO of Finlok, said – “being selected to the Mumbai Fintech Accelerator is an amazing opportunity for Finlok to build the right partnerships to improve the product as well as distribution”. Atish added – “the selection along with the grant offered by the Government of Maharashtra is a further validation of our vision and will help us building trust with our partners as well as users”
The Mumbai Fintech Accelerator aims to help the selected startups gain market validation through partnerships and advise. In a further boost to the Finlok team the Government of Maharashtra extended a grant of Rs10Lac to the startup to build their product to further financial inclusion and digital payments.
The FinTech Accelerator Programme is an industry catalysed programme that has duration of three months. The programme focuses on innovation that enables financial empowerment and technological advancement across the entire financial services ecosystem to nurture globally competent Fintech firms. The programme is being organised in association with The Govt. of Maharashtra, The Fintech Yatra and a consortium of private players in the Financial Industry. The programme aims at providing a platform for FinTech firms and helps firms seek guidance from regulatory and BFSI experts. Furthermore, the programme provides participants access to benefits as per the FinTech state policy and a business integration opportunity with the partner institutions. Maharashtra is the first state to announce the first ever FinTech State Policy with the aim to make the state Maharashtra one of the top five FinTech centres in the world in the next 5 years. Under the policy, the state government will support 300 Fintech Startups in the coming 3 years by providing funding and other incentives which includes a Rs. 200 crore Fund as well as more than 10,000 sq.ft co-working space in the heart of Mumbai.
About Finlok – Finlok (http://finlok.com) aims to digitise the more than USD100Bn cash based savings groups across the country using the latest in mobile, payments and analytics. Finlok aims to develop a financial rating for its users enabling it to offer value added services to the individual group members.
