[Funding alert] FamPay raises $4.7M in seed round from Y Combinator, Sequoia, and others

FamPay, a payments app for teenagers and their families, has raised an investment of $4.7 million in a seed round from Y Combinator, Venture Highway, Sequoia India, and GFC (Global Founders Capital). 

Kevin Lin, the Co-Founder of Twitch; Vladimir Tenev, the Co-Founder of Robinhood; Kunal Shah, Founder of CRED; and Amrish Rau, CEO of Pine Labs also participated in this round. 

The payments platform will invest this funding in building a world-class engineering team to develop its technology and accelerate growth.

Founded by 21-year-old entrepreneurs and recent graduates from IIT-Roorkee – Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain – FamPay is building the future of payments for teenagers in India. 

During their IIT days, the founders were disappointed that schools or banks did not focus on educating the youth about the fundamentals of personal finance, which is the backbone of good financial health. They realised that in today’s cashless era, the only thing that can make people more responsible with money was practical learning. 

The Gen-Z today are the most tech-savvy. But they usually have no bank accounts, no access to digital payments, and are completely dependent on one of the most antiquated modes of payment – cash. The founders decided to create the first accounts for this target group along with a spending card. That’s when FamPay was born.

Sambhav Jain, Co-founder of FamPay, said, “It’s an interesting market to crack because the demands and lifestyle of a teenager are very different and they are not served by anyone yet. We believe that empowering teenagers with their accounts can create a new network of users and open numerous opportunities in the market. As this is the habit-building age, there’s a huge scope for innovation and redefining how payments are done. We aim to grow as our users grow, developing new products for an expanding user base.”

With FamPay, teenagers can get their first card – FamCard – without the need to set up a bank account. They can use it for all online and in-store purchases, send money to their friends, and make UPI payments through the app. 

Further, instead of managing individual expenses, parents can just top-up the FamPay account, and let their child spend it the way they want – anytime and anywhere – under their supervision. 

Neeraj Arora, former Business Head - WhatsApp and Founding LP and Advisor - Venture Highway, said,

“Parents play an important role in shaping their children’s financial behaviour and there’s no better way than providing them with financial prudence at a young age. Sambhav and Kush are energetic and visionary founders with a very fresh and user-focused approach towards this market. Their deep understanding of their target segment will help empower teenagers with the practical tools needed to navigate the tricky waters of personal finance.“ 

In August 2019, during an experiment to test the market opportunity, FamPay attracted 20,000-plus users in just seven days and got trending at #5 on the Google Play Store. Gamification and social elements that encouraged sharing contributed to the rapid growth of the startup.

Taking this social behaviour forward, FamPay app also has a feed over which teens can share updates with their friends about the latest sneakers they bought, or the new restaurant they tried last night. 

Kush Taneja, Co-founder of FamPay, said, “Most of the products built in India are focussed on adults and there’s nothing out there for teenagers between the age of 12-18 years. While digital payments are growing exponentially, the teens’ are unable to pay directly for the services and experiences that they value. Gen - Z expects a combination of something cool, trustworthy, and social, and that’s the sweet spot we are working day and night to cater to.”

FamPay is now coming out of stealth to launch its product. The app will be available on both the Google Play Store and the App Store. The cards will be issued in partnership with IDFC First Bank. While the users can get the virtual card instantly on signing up, the physical cards can be ordered through the app in the following few weeks.

(Edited by Suman Singh)