WATCH: Fintech startup Money View is targeting a new generation of loan seekers to scale its business
In a conversation with YourStory, Puneet Agarwal, Co-founder, MoneyView, talks about how to scale a business and why the fintech startup wants to focus on small-town customers who do not have access to formal credit.
Money View was started in 2014 by Puneet Agarwal and Sanjay Agarwal. Initially, it would gather data on spending patterns and offer guidance on savings to users. That changed in 2016 as the startup became a full-blown fintech player - the data gathered in its earlier role enabled the team to understand the credit worthiness of people.
“Bureau data is not robust but, when you combine this with our data, it becomes powerful and helps understand a customer,” Puneet says.
At present, Money View is disbursing loans between Rs 10,000 and Rs 5 lakh, for a period of three to 60 months. Most customers use the loans for children's education, medical bills, or to buy new consumer durable goods. Puneet claims that 60 percent of the company’s customers come from smaller towns.
In this video interview, Puneet talks about leadership, how to scale a startup, and how Money View has a 25-member data team just to verify a potential customer’s credit worthiness.
Prior to starting up, Puneet worked in Capital One in the US in 2002, which gave credit cards to individuals who would not qualify for one under the formal banking system. After that, he worked at Google as a product manager. Meanwhile, Sanjay was with Yahoo, and was also a Co-founder of startup minglebox.com.
Alumni of IIT-Delhi, the two met in Bengaluru through common friends in 2014 and decided to start up. Now, after five years, Money View has crossed 10 million users and sources say it has raised more than $10 million.
Puneet Agarwal, the Co-founder of Money View, says 60 percent of their customers come from 'Bharat'.
The company’s growth has been fuelled by a new generation of loan seekers, those who would not receive credit from the formal banking system. Puneet says their focus is to help every Indian find credit.
“In India, only the top 10 percent get formal credit and when you look at the unfulfilled need for the rest, the market opportunity is huge,” Puneet says.
Without disclosing the amount of money disbursed so far, the co-founder reveals that Money View has tie-ups with more than three banks as lending partners. The startup competes with the likes of FairCent, LendingKart, and Capital Float.
The current digital transaction user base in India stands at 100 million. This will go up to 300 million by 2020 as new users from rural and semi-urban areas enter the market. Puneet and Sanjay are betting on this very growth as they scale their startup.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
