Credit-on-UPI platform SalarySe raises $5.25M to make financial management more accessible for salaried professionals
- The seed funding round is led by Peak XV’s Surge and Pravega Ventures.
- The company is leveraging Credit-on-UPI technology to make revolving credit accessible and enable smart spending for India’s large middle-class population.
- SalarySe will launch Credit-on-UPI for salaried employees in the next few months.
SalarySe, a financial management application that leverages the Credit-on-UPI (Unified Payments Interface) system to help salaried employees, has announced $5.25 million in seed funding led by Surge, Peak XV’s rapid scale-up program, and Pravega Ventures. The funding will help SalarySe in developing its technology stack for Credit-on-UPI and drive adoption of the product in India.
Less than 4% of Indians have access to a credit card, making the country’s revolving credit market among the lowest penetrated in major economies. Comparatively, revolving credit penetration in economies like the USA and China is upwards of 70% and 40% respectively. However, Credit-on-UPI adoption is expected to increase revolving credit adoption significantly in India given high merchant adoption of UPI pan India. Last year, UPI transactions crossed the 100 billion mark and Credit-on-UPI is expected to see a similar expansion.
Leveraging this growth trend, SalarySe is making revolving credit accessible for middle class Indians by combining the user-friendly interface of UPI with the flexibility of credit through its Credit-on-UPI technology. The company is simultaneously ensuring that issuing banks are lending responsibly by integrating with SalarySe’s unique collection and risk underwriting technology, effectively reducing the risk and pricing for unsecured and revolving credit products.
SalarySe aims to help more than 100 million salaried employees in India spend, save, invest and plan their salaries smartly and reduce financial stress in their lives. The company will launch the Credit-on-UPI system for salaried employees in the next few months and is partnering with banks, HR SaaS platforms and employers for the launch.
Piyush Bagaria, Co-founder at SalarySe, said: “UPI has seen unprecedented acceptance amongst both merchants and retail consumers across India, which makes it the right technology platform to deepen credit penetration for the middle class. This forms the basis for SalarySe’s success as one of the early entrants in the Credit-on-UPI space. NPCI’s state of the art technology coupled with SalarySe’s unique employer-linked credit model helps reduce fraud and collections risk on the revolving credit products. This allows us to bring access to the next 100 million Indians who desire the product but do not have access today.”
Saumeet Nanda, Co-founder at SalarySe, who oversees risk and compliance, said “There has been increased scrutiny from the regulators on expansion of unsecured credit. The model of reaching the consumer base through employer-integration is the most responsible method of expanding revolving credit as it solves for risk first. Combining the power of payments data and employment data allows us to build the most data-rich underwriting for our partner financial institutions.”
Post Covid, lower- and middle-income salaried employees have experienced increased financial stress and there lies a gap for innovative technology solutions to address this. SalarySe brings a multi-product personalized employee financial wellness offering designed to reduce financial stress, and manage the risk of high working capital, employee attrition and productivity loss.
“This unique technology provides unprecedented ease of access and significant benefits to employers and employees alike while being compliant with prevailing legislations,” said Mohit Gorisariya, Co-founder at SalarySe, who has over a decade of market experience and is passionate about driving financial knowledge amongst the salaried middle class in India. He adds, “Currently, we are focusing on three key sectors – Information Technology and People Services, Manufacturing and Sales led sectors including FMCG, Consumer Durables etc.”
With a focus on middle-income India and a unique cross-sell potential for banking partners including other credit and liability products, SalarySe offers a win-win proposition for all ecosystem players. A spokesperson at Pravega Ventures remarked, “With one of the world’s largest economies, and the third-largest middle-class in the world, the lack of credit penetration presents great potential. SalarySe’s commitment to tapping into it while providing the most seamless digital journey possible to the customer and relying on the UPI-friendly market will set up its success.”
About SalarySe
SalarySe is India’s first Credit-on-UPI powered financial wellness platform that aims to help more than 100 million salaried individuals and their families spend, save, invest and plan their salaries smartly. Our co-founders, Mohit Gorisariya, Piyush Bagaria and Saumeet Nanda bring in a collective 30+ years of experience in financial services. Our unique employer-integrated model allows us to systematically solve for risk and expand revolving credit access responsibly. We focus on creating the most seamless digital financial services journeys in the market for middle-income salaried employees. www.salaryse.com
About Pravega Ventures
Pravega Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that focuses on fintech and enterprise, partnering with passionate founders and exceptional teams leveraging technology to disrupt existing markets or create new ones. Pravega brings profound sector-specific knowledge and well established networks to support entrepreneurs. To know more, please visit www.pravegavc.com.
About Peak XV
Peak XV (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) is a leading venture capital firm investing across India, Southeast Asia and beyond. Peak XV (pronounced Peak Fifteen) was the name used for Mount Everest before it was called that. Over the last 18 years of our operations in the region,
Peak XV has grown to manage over USD 9 billion in capital across 13 funds and invested in over 400 companies. The portfolio has seen 20 IPOs and multiple successful M&As, resulting in USD 4.6 billion in realised exits so far.
To know more, please visit: www.peakxv.com
About Surge
Surge is Peak XV’s rapid-scale-up program. Surge combines up to USD 3 Mn of seed capital with company-building workshops, a global curriculum and support from a community of exceptional mentors and founders. The program’s goal is to supercharge early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia and give founders an unfair advantage, right out of the gate. For more information on Surge, visit https://surge.peakxv.com/.