Top Fintech Startups Who Have Managed To Make It To The Soonicorn Club

The Indian economy is currently 5th largest in the world and the country is fast emerging as a startup destination hub. In the last decade, the Indian startup ecosystem has grown leaps and bounce and is currently the third-largest startup hub in the world followed by the US and China. The country has grown from 35K startups in 2016 to over 55K startups in 2020 and since 2018, 15+ unicorns have come up in India. This is the outcome of the rapid rise of the consumer market as well as the increasing adoption of digital services and products by individuals and businesses.

According to a PwC Report, “India is a hotspot representing 50% of the total top 100 unicorns in the region by value and number”

The term, ‘Unicorn’ refers to the startups who have clocked $ 1 Billion in valuation and thus the term ‘Soonicorn’ refers to those startups that are about to enter the $ 1 Billion club. To understand and witness the rise of the Indian Startup Ecosystem, here is a list of top 5 Soonicorn or future billion-dollar startups.

Here are the top Fintech startups who have managed to make it to the Soonicorn club:

1. Indifi: Indifi Technologies is a Gurgaon-based lending platform, enabling debt-financing for small businesses. It aims to substantially improve the experience for borrowers regarding credit access as well as the speed and convenience of the loan process. Driven by the idea of expanding access to MSME financing in India, Indifi has emerged as an enabler for start-ups and small businesses seeking seamless access to funding. Indifi expands the envelope of formal lending by designing the right-fit credit products for MSMEs, improving the standard of risk assessment, and leveraging the supply chain linkages of MSMEs. Indifi has recently partnered with Facebook to offer loan to small businesses. The company already provides zero collateral loans to small businesses in the country, but the partnership with Facebook gives it the chance to reach more borrowers in the country. Indifi uses digital processes to do know-your-customer (KYC) checks and verification of companies. The company has a non-banking financial entity (NBFC) of its own, it also partners with private banks to provide loans to SMBs.

2. LendingKart: Lendingkart is a web platform that enables SMEs to apply for collateral free working capital loans. The company uses cash flow, credit history, and customer experiences to evaluate the business. Claim to disburse the loan within 3 days. In Feb ’16, the company tied up with Voonik and Craftsvilla to offer loans to their merchants. In March ’16, entered into strategic partnership with Mahindra’s SmartShift, a digitally enabled aggregator for cargo owners and transporters. To make working capital fund easily accessible to SmartShift SMEs. In April 2017, the company raised $4.65M in the form of non-convertible debentures (NCD) from Anicut Capital.

3. Capital Float: Founded in 2013 in Bengaluru, Capital Float offers an online platform for consumer & business loans. It offers loans such as term finance, working capital, point-of-sale financing, and more. It offers business loans based on cash flows, expected receivables, financials, CIBIL score, & bank statements. Borrowers can apply online and once approved, the loan is disbursed to their bank account.

4. CRED: Cred is a rewards-based platform that enables credit card users to pay their bills and get rewarded in the form of Cred Coins. These Cred coins can be used to claim rewards from partner brands. The platform is initially targeting people with high credit scores, and the people with lower scores are being waitlisted. As of Nov 2018, the platform is in private beta.

5. KhataBook: Khatabook is a digital ledger account book for small businesses. Features recording of credit and debit transactions, SMS updates to customers for transactions, payment reminders, information about pending payments, ledger cash book, daily finance collection etc. The app is available for Android platform.