ITV

Tag: fintech

  • Stashfin introduces its new ‘All-In-One’ Card in latest ad film

    Stashfin introduces its new ‘All-In-One’ Card in latest ad film

    Mumbai: Neobanking platform Stashfin has released a new brand video introducing its all-in-one card that promises to meet all the needs of its customers.

    The film conceptualised by Havas Worldwide India (Creative) showcases the diverse offerings of the card in a humorous way while attempting to dispel the notion that fintech is boring or tough to grasp.

    With a brand promise of ‘Nobody in India should be credit starved’, Stashfin has been working towards the financial inclusion of various customer segments who find it hard to be accepted by traditional banking systems. “As consumers, everyone seeks perfection from the products they use, and our latest brand video is an attempt to cater to this insight. This led to Stashfin partnering with Havas Worldwide India (Creative) for creating a relevant communication campaign that aims to make the fintech space accessible and relatable in an engaging way,” the brand said in a statement.

    “For our all-in-one brand video, we wanted to integrate our ethos of ‘nobody should be credit-starved, in an easy, relatable format. I’m glad we could work with Havas Worldwide India (Creative). This has been an extremely fruitful experience,” said Stashfin co-founder Shruti Aggarwal.

    Havas Group India chairman & chief creative officer Bobby Pawar said, “It’s not every day that one gets to participate in a project that will be impactful, or decide the positioning of a product. Fintech is often perceived as a boring space, perhaps even one that is tough to grasp. We wanted to dispel that perception, and comedy was the best way to do that. The all-in-one brand video communicates the brand proposition and product features in the most meaningful and engaging way possible.”

  • Akshay Kumar dons Superhero avatar in Policybazaar’s new campaign

    Akshay Kumar dons Superhero avatar in Policybazaar’s new campaign

    Mumbai: Policybazaar, insurance aggregator and leading fintech platform has roped in actor Akshay Kumar as its new superhero –‘Mr Policybazaar’ for its latest ad campaign.

    Claim settlement is considered a moment of truth and often, the process becomes a pain point for policyholders during a time of distress. Policybazaar aims to address this gap with its 30-minute claim assistance promise.  The campaign emphasises the significance of quick and effective assistance with insurance claims in the hour of need.

    The brand highlights its commitment of assisting people at every step of their insurance journey through the ad film which shows Mr Policybazaar assuring a wife anxious over admitting her husband to the hospital, saying, “Insurance claim ke time pe aapki help ke liye sirf 30 minute mein tayyar, main hoon Mr Policybazaar.”

    Policybazaar chief operating officer Sharat Dhall said, “We have been focussed on providing end-to-end assistance to our customers when it comes to the entire insurance journey – right from comparing policies, getting the best prices, to buying online and to claims support. We are excited to take this commitment to the next level with our new 30-minute claim assistance promise. With this campaign, we look forward to driving a strong consumer connection by building trust that Policybazaar will be there for you at the time you need it most.”  

    Talking about the campaign launch, Policybazaar’s VP and head of brand marketing, Samir Sethi said, “The fundamental objective of the campaign is to assure consumers that Policybazaar will always be there to help them with their insurance claims. Mr Policybazaar is the superhero manifestation of that promise. We are elated to have Akshay Kumar as Mr Policybazaar, as he is the perfect fit to take our message to the masses.” 

    Drawing attention to the brand’s larger message of providing social and financial security to all, the campaign also stresses the importance of purchasing health insurance. At a time when the deadly pandemic is gaining momentum yet again, health issues are soaring at an alarmingly high rate. Following some tough lessons and seeing medical inflation translating to skyrocketing bills, insurance is the only safety shield against it. 

  • Fintech invests in branded content to reach Gen Z and millennials

    Fintech invests in branded content to reach Gen Z and millennials

    Mumbai: Fintech brands are looking at the massive influx of Gen Z and millennial retail investors as an opportunity to create awareness about their products. As awareness about the securities market in India remains comparatively low compared to markets like the US, brands are choosing educational content to create brand recall.

    The Indian financial markets saw unprecedented retail participation between April 2020 and January 2021. The securities and exchange board of India (SEBI) reported that 1.4 crore new demat accounts were opened in FY 2020-21. The total number of demat accounts as of March stands at 5.5 crore which means that a fifth of the total demat accounts was opened in the last financial year.

    “The capital markets have grown tremendously as well and retail participation has increased. According to Central Depository Services Ltd, (CDSL), in the first six months of the lockdown only, there was also a 20 per cent rise in demat accounts. So, definitely, there is a huge interest and appetite for learning about the financial markets especially given the slowdown in placements and the job market,” said iProspect India, chief executive officer, Rubeena Singh.

    There was a surge in interest in all forms of wealth creation, as crores of people, lost their jobs. Unlike before, this time new investors had access to a vast trove of information on stocks, IPOs, mutual funds, cryptocurrencies, and other asset classes. Their decision-making is influenced not by a financial advisor but rather by influencers on YouTube.

    “There has been a spike in the volume of content created as the consumer interest in these (fintech) products has increased. However, more video and less text content are being consumed and thus, created. So, brands are looking to create short-form video content in a scalable way that is also cost-efficient. They are also integrating with existing shows, partnering with original content and content creators,” remarked Singh.

    A bevy of brands have made it their personal mission to educate these young investors about credit, securities, crypto and help them make smart decisions. This creates a halo effect around the brands, as well as drive their marketing agendas to appear as category leaders in their space. Brands like Upstox, CoinSwitch Kuber, CoinDCX, Cred, and PhonePe are investing in content creation on their own platforms as well as strategic associations with key influencers and media platforms to remain visible.

    The banking and finance, mutual fund, insurance, and cryptocurrency players are the most prominent when it comes to media partnerships as they are not only trying to grow their brands but also the entire category.

    For example, cryptocurrency platform WazirX partnered with business news channel CNBC TV18 to develop an education programme that lays emphasis on crypto emerging as a mainstream asset class. Similarly, competitor CoinSwitch Kuber partnered with NDTV for a similar content partnership.

    “The cryptocurrency market is attracting almost everyone. While almost 50 per cent of the users on the platform are below 28 years of age, we have been witnessing a lot of traction from senior citizens and users above 45 years of age. Investors from smaller cities in India are also getting into crypto. Around 60 per cent of the investors come from Tier II and Tier III cities of India” observed CoinSwitch Kuber, chief business officer, Sharan Nair.

    “CoinSwitch Kuber is actively collaborating with local newspapers, media and influencers to educate and inform investors about the new assets. Kuberverse, a free educational resource available on the platform, is also contributing to this goal. Also, the ease of usage of the platform adds to our advantage and attracts users in large numbers,” he added.

    Brands are looking at content integrations and partnerships as this educational content will continue to garner views, long after it has been created by the next generation of investors. Singh admits that money being spent on digital is far less than traditional channels, however, that needs to change with the consumption pattern. “Brands are spending about Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore to create educational content. Integration in a video or partnering with one episode of a large IP may cost around Rs 25 lakh to 50 lakh,” she noted.

  • Rainshine Global launches four new fintech businesses

    Rainshine Global launches four new fintech businesses

    Mumbai: The US-based media and entertainment company Rainshine Global has announced the creation of four new fintech businesses including investment vehicle AISTRA Coin, credit solutions provider Rainshine Media CreditTech, premium video-on-demand platform Rainshine DiFa, and digital assets research and advisory services (DARA). These offerings will be anchored by Rainblox, the company’s proprietary blockchain platform.

    Rainshine is creating new subsidiaries for each of these new fintech businesses which will be launched progressively in the next six to nine months.

    Digital tokens: Rainshine will launch its first token under the brand AISTRA Coin, an investment vehicle designed to raise $100 million to finance, distribute, and trade new original content productions and list at global alternative trading system (ATS) exchanges. Rainshine’s digital tokens will create a new asset class for both institutional and high net worth investors, transforming the process of investing in new and high potential original audio-visual media content assets.

    Media credit: The company will launch two new subsidiaries under the banner of Rainshine Media CreditTech, one each for the US and India, to offer credit solutions to the media and entertainment industry. Rainshine is raising $50 million, combining both new equity as well as credit lines from leading financial institutions to initially develop the media credit business and later add DeFi (decentralised finance) tech solutions to broaden the pool of investors.

    Premium video-on-demand (PVOD) platform: The new platform called Rainshine DiFa (direct-to-fans) will provide both a white-labelled solution plus bolt-on to other global PVOD platforms or provide content developers a one-stop gateway to a global audience with fully baked digital marketing, payment, e-commerce, and audience interaction solutions.

    Digital assets research and advisory services (DARA): As new fintech and blockchain technologies collide with the traditional and the new streaming-driven M&E industry, industry players will need considerable support to comprehend, evaluate, and exploit new opportunities. Rainshine’s DARA group will work closely with industry players to help them develop and launch new products globally and ensure that they achieve their fullest potential.

    Blockchain platform Rainblox uses a smart contracts module that enables the creation of both transparency in the monetisation of assets and full execution of the required payments globally.

    “Rainshine is standardising financing and payment processes in the M&E industry that have been overly complex traditionally. It seeks to enhance trust and transparency for investors, content creators, and producers,” said the company in a statement.

    “The innovative offerings from Rainshine will accelerate the growth of its original content business and create new options for financing, distribution, and co-creation of content and fulfil its ambition of creating the next generation M&E company,” it added.  

    Rainshine Global’s founder, chairman, and CEO Neeraj Bhargava said the media and entertainment industry is positioned to become a $ three trillion globally connected industry by 2030 and that the company wants to be at the forefront of enabling the development of a creator-centric industry. “Riding on the second wave of digital disruption, we want to build a future-ready company that not only champions the stories that creators want to tell their audiences but also alleviates their pain points on financing, distribution, and retaining the fair share of their creations. We find ourselves in an exciting period where technology can accelerate growth and restructure the industry in a most positive manner,” he added.

    “The new generation of fintech and blockchain technologies are creating exciting options to finance the rapid growth of the M&E industry and access new paths to distribute globally,” said Rainshine Global, chief financial officer, Kishore Mirchandani. “I am truly excited about Rainshine’s innovative fintech offerings and the potential of RainBlox developing into a fully integrated platform for creator and production contracts, M&E asset fractionalisation and financing, digital assets management, global audience access, and listing in financial markets. Being an innovator in this era is an irresistible privilege that we at Rainshine are eager to embrace and build a transformational company.”

  • slice onboards Siva Kumar Tangudu as CTO

    MUMBAI: Fintech startup and credit card challenger slice on Friday announced the appointment of Siva Kumar Tangudu as the company’s new chief technology officer.

    An IIT-Mumbai alumni, Tangudu brings with him leadership expertise of over 15 years across senior & pivotal roles at Myntra, HackerRank, Microsoft, & Oracle to name a few. He also comes with an entrepreneurial background, having co-founded a Hyderabad-based startup, Kawanan Labs. Tangudu has been an early-stage investor in slice, witnessing the company’s growth at a personal level. In this role, he will be responsible for strengthening slice’s technological arm and further expanding the company’s offerings, the startup said.

    slice founder & CEO Rajan Bajaj said “Siva brings with him a wealth of consumer tech experience and we are thrilled to have him on-board. He has a great history of leading engineering teams at some of the best tech companies, as well as his own startup. There are some very exciting things in the pipeline at slice – including the launch of a game-changing rewards system as well as UPI on our platform. Siva’s expertise will be critical in helping us move closer to our mission of building the raddest payment experience for millennials and GenZ.”

    On his new role, Tangudu said “This is the best time to be at slice. Rajan and his team are building a phenomenal product that essentially challenges many traditional practices in the finance sector, and it’s thrilling to be a part of it. I look forward to building a stellar team here and bringing forth a tech-first approach to solving some interesting and hard problems in this space.”

    In the last few quarters, slice has witnessed a significant growth in terms of consumers and the size of the team. Despite the pandemic, it continued hiring and strengthening its leadership team, grew six times in FY-21 and recorded a 40-50 per cent increase in average customer spends, said the company.

  • Silicon Valley techie Narayan Gangadhar joins Angel Broking as CEO

    Silicon Valley techie Narayan Gangadhar joins Angel Broking as CEO

    Mumbai: Fintech brokerage firm Angel Broking has roped in Silicon Valley veteran Narayan Gangadhar as its new CEO.

    Narayan has more than two decades of global experience leading technology businesses at top-tier Silicon Valley companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber. He brings operating experience leading highly disruptive businesses by driving innovation in product, technology, capability building, and processes automation.

    Gangadhar was head of technology at Uber in San Francisco where he led the company’s core infrastructure, machine learning, data platform, and data science teams of over 650+ employees across the globe. During his tenure, Uber scaled to over 400+ cities globally completing over 14 million trips daily. At Google, he led large product and engineering teams to launch the first set of the search giant’s cloud infrastructure services, such as Compute Engine, Cloud SQL, Container Engines. He also led large teams responsible for developing the overall application infrastructure which power productivity apps like Google Drive, Google Docs, etc.

    Prior to Google, Gangadhar was the general manager and director at Amazon Web Services where he developed the Cloud Database business. He was most recently the founder & CEO of a robotics start-up in San Francisco that develops automated urban mobility solutions

    “The Indian market is at an interesting juncture as more people make technology a part of their daily lifestyles,” said Gangadhar. “As a CEO, my entire focus will be on unlocking superior efficiency for all stakeholders. The overarching objective is to make the product more accessible in the mass market.”

    Angel Broking CMD Dinesh Thakkar said, “Narayan is the right person to lead Angel Broking along its journey as a leader in this industry. He is a well-rounded engineer with great leadership qualities and will add significant value to our existing digital assets. Plus, he will help us realise our aspirations to become a preferred Fintech company in India. With Narayan leading the team, I am sure we will scale new heights in making international standard apps, offering world-class customer experience, and taking best-in-class AI/ML journeys for new and existing customers to understand investing and trading well.”

  • BharatPe appoints Sumeet Singh as general counsel & head – corporate strategy

    BharatPe appoints Sumeet Singh as general counsel & head – corporate strategy

    MUMBAI: BharatPe has onboarded Sumeet Singh as the general counsel and head – corporate strategy. The appointment will further bolster the leadership team at BharatPe, which currently is a mix of renowned professionals across industries.

    Singh is a seasoned legal professional with 10+ years of experience across leading law firms including AZB& Partners, DSK Legal and Amarchand Mangaldas. He brings deep understanding of legal, compliance, regulatory and structuring aspects of multiple sectors including non-banking financial, retail, e-commerce, FMCG, digital media and technology.

    Singh, who is expected to join BharatPe soon, is currently a partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi, having joined the erstwhile Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff in 2013 from AZB. He has actively represented some of India’s biggest e-commerce, retail entities, financial companies and start-ups. Recently, he was part of the core team advising Reliance Retail Ventures in its acquisition of the entire retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing business of Kishore Biyani's Future Group. He has also been advising Norwest Venture Partners (a US$ 9 billion investment fund) in all their recent investments in India including in Xpressbess, OFB Tech, Ess Kay Fin Corp, Veritas Finance etc. He has been an advisor to Grofers since its early days leading their fundraising work.

    Additionally, Singh represented Indiamart on its pre-IPO fund raising. His other marquee representations include clients like Nestle, IFC, Inshorts, IDFC Alternatives Ltd (now Global Infrastructure Partners), Qatar based Q Invest, Raine Group and NewsCorp.

    BharatPe co-founder and CEO Ashneer Grover said, “2020 has been an exciting and solid growth year for BharatPe. As we get ready to welcome 2021, I would like to welcome Sumeet to the team. Sumeet will be the first partner at a major law firm to join a start-up. I’ve known Sumeet professionally and personally for five years and there is no one better to steer BharatPe on its goal to be India’s first true digital bank. He will be responsible for corporate strategy, compliance, licensing, equity and debt deals, ESOP schemes, cap table management and preparation for eventual listing.”

    Singh added, “I am excited to join Ashneer and his solid team of CXOs as they build out a truly differentiated and capital efficient fintech at BharatPe. The way BharatPe has broken away from the fintech crowd to create a solid business, bodes well for the future and I am honoured to contribute to this amazing growth.”

  • Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    New Delhi: Fareed Jawad has been appointed the principal product architect and vice president (VP) payments at digital payments platform Freecharge. In his new role, Fareed’s mandate will be to build payments technologies at Freecharge. Additionally, he will lead the efforts on building technologies for solving the unique payments problems in India.

    Freecharge is on a mission to build the world-class payments ecosystem for merchants and customers. The company seeks to work collaboratively with various innovators and emerging FinTech players to implement the most reliable and frictionless payment method and Fareed will be instrumental in driving this with the senior leadership team at Freecharge.

    Prior to his appointment at Freecharge, Fareed most recently served as principal product architect at Amazon India, where he was responsible for building the core payment processing infrastructure for the organization. Before joining Amazon, Fareed was with Flipkart as director for Product Management and was part of the core team that launched PayZippy.

    “Fareed’s appointment reaffirms Freecharge’s commitment to hiring the industry’s best talent. We are on a cusp of a revolution to accelerate the FinTech capabilities in India.  We look forward to Fareed’s contribution in strengthening our technical expertise and payments capabilities with his in-depth understanding of payments sector. Fareed will be responsible for developing products for customers and merchants both online and offline, in line with our vision to be the digital OS for the payments business in India.” said Freecharge COO Govind Rajan.

    Fareed has been in the payments industry right from the earliest payment gateways with VeriFone in the US. He has also been part of large payment processors like Moneris Solutions in Canada and eFunds/FIS where he helped enhance the acceptance and issuance platforms for Chip Card processing.

    Jawad said “Freecharge is one of the most exciting brands in the digital payments sector today and I am happy to be part of this growth journey. I look forward to creating core payment assets that will help our customers experience a frictionless payments ecosystem in the country and establish FreeCharge as the leader in the Payments space.”

    Fareed has a bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bengaluru.

  • Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    Fareed Jawad is VP and principal product architect at Freecharge

    New Delhi: Fareed Jawad has been appointed the principal product architect and vice president (VP) payments at digital payments platform Freecharge. In his new role, Fareed’s mandate will be to build payments technologies at Freecharge. Additionally, he will lead the efforts on building technologies for solving the unique payments problems in India.

    Freecharge is on a mission to build the world-class payments ecosystem for merchants and customers. The company seeks to work collaboratively with various innovators and emerging FinTech players to implement the most reliable and frictionless payment method and Fareed will be instrumental in driving this with the senior leadership team at Freecharge.

    Prior to his appointment at Freecharge, Fareed most recently served as principal product architect at Amazon India, where he was responsible for building the core payment processing infrastructure for the organization. Before joining Amazon, Fareed was with Flipkart as director for Product Management and was part of the core team that launched PayZippy.

    “Fareed’s appointment reaffirms Freecharge’s commitment to hiring the industry’s best talent. We are on a cusp of a revolution to accelerate the FinTech capabilities in India.  We look forward to Fareed’s contribution in strengthening our technical expertise and payments capabilities with his in-depth understanding of payments sector. Fareed will be responsible for developing products for customers and merchants both online and offline, in line with our vision to be the digital OS for the payments business in India.” said Freecharge COO Govind Rajan.

    Fareed has been in the payments industry right from the earliest payment gateways with VeriFone in the US. He has also been part of large payment processors like Moneris Solutions in Canada and eFunds/FIS where he helped enhance the acceptance and issuance platforms for Chip Card processing.

    Jawad said “Freecharge is one of the most exciting brands in the digital payments sector today and I am happy to be part of this growth journey. I look forward to creating core payment assets that will help our customers experience a frictionless payments ecosystem in the country and establish FreeCharge as the leader in the Payments space.”

    Fareed has a bachelors degree in Computer Science Engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bengaluru.