ePayLater believes that with the right technological tools in the hands of the buyers and sellers both tend to gain by seeing more business as well as better margins.
Share some detailed insights about users of epaylater? How many active users are associated with the services? Share some analysis around the BNPL ecosystem in India? Future of BNPL?
ePayLater is the largest player in the B2B BNPL space. The customers are small traders, businesses, kirana stores/retailers who use ePayLater to buy their supplies from the partner merchants. These customers are typically middle-aged people supporting their families by running their own retail stores. Most of them have been in business for long and have seen various ups and downs in their business, taking all such challenges in their stride. They know how to tackle business risk. They have built a community of trust around themselves in the community, amongst their customers, suppliers etc
The ecosystem ePayLater is catering to is the FMCG supply chain. This same supply chain exists across various verticals. ePayLater caters to the last mile of the supply chain – between the distributors and retailers. It’s a highly fragmented space where there are about 12 Mn kirana stores across the country and many small distributors. It’s a cash-dependent segment which does not see much participation from formal financial institutions. ePayLater believes that by providing the right tools in the hands of these traders one can help unlock value for both the seller and the buyer. The solution in the hands of the buyers helps him/her to choose the products, quantity, seller and mode of transaction across a wide assortment of choices across the partners. The seller gains by getting higher volumes, getting access to a wider base of retailers, saving costs on collections, reconciliations etc
What are your funding and expansion plans?
ePayLater raised $ 10 million in this Series B round from Responsibility Investments AG, Blue Ashva Capital, Pravega Ventures and other investors. Previously, they had raised from Pravega Ventures, ICICI Bank and Japan’s GMO Global Fintech Fund. We expect to grow by around 10X in the next year. ePayLater is introducing many more features and benefits which will help their customers grow their businesses by using technology and the latest financing tools.
What is the core philosophy of the brand?
The mission is to empower small businesses by providing simple, transparent and innovative financial solutions. ePayLater believes that currently the last mile of B2B supply chain is saddled with a lot of inefficiencies. While the sellers are constrained by capital, high collections costs, manual book keeping/reconciliations, ability to mitigate risk etc. the buyers are constrained too. The retailers, kirana shops lose business if they are not able to cater to the customer and in a world of so many brands and many more SKUs the sourcing ability assumes importance. Informal credit does not allow them to make good business choices. ePayLater believes that with the right technological tools in the hands of the buyers and sellers both tend to gain by seeing more business as well as better margins. Their aim is to enable and empower the traders/ small businesses in the best way possible.
How has your entrepreneurship journey been so far? Share some key learning and hurdles?
Although it may sound clichéd, the biggest learning is that the ability to identify and address the customers’ pain points is the most important element in business success. And listening to the customer is the only way to create relevance of the business going ahead.
Would you like to give any advice to your users & any message for our readers? Do you follow any mantra for success? How do you keep yourself motivated?
We believe everything is possible and it’s usually our imagination that limits us or unfetters us. We might not be able to see the entire way but the journey keeps unfolding little by little as we take one bold step after another. I believe we have a lot to learn and that is what makes life exciting! Technology is also the biggest game-changer and with the advancement of technology, organisations like ours can bring convenience to small businesses/ traders which ultimately help them in meeting their goals and thus growing the economy.
Source: Business World
