Irrespective of whether a business is still in its nascent stages, small-scale or large, it is no easy task running it, and no one is more familiar with this fact than the ones running the show! As the owner, you hold the mantle, are accountable to your employees and customers, and are squarely responsible for ensuring that your business runs smoothly and grows as projected.
Fortunately, the business ecosystem has never been better for Small and Medium (SMBs), micro-enterprises, and unincorporated entities that comprise a whopping 97% of total businesses in India. Thanks to rapid digitalization and increasingly innovative tech-enabled solutions, there is ample reinforcement close at hand that business owners like you can call upon as and when needed.
We have listed five innovative platforms in India that you can consider for scaling your business in 2023.
MobiKwik
If you need a financial products suite of payment, digital credit, and investment solutions for your business, then MobiKwik is your answer. The fintech leader enables its 3.7 million merchant partners to connect with over 134 million users and accept their digital payments.
The fintech leader has seen rapid growth in digitally paying users in India in the last decade and is focused on addressing the unmet credit needs of the fast-growing digitally paying users by combining the convenience of everyday mobile payments with the benefits of BNPL.
Founded in 2009 by Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku, the company commenced operations as a mobile wallet to make digital payments convenient for their users by expanding and including bill payments, e-commerce shopping, food delivery, petrol pumps, large retail chains, pharmacies, kirana stores, etc.
This platform enables peer-to-peer payments via a unified payment interface (“UPI”), MobiKwik Wallet to bank payments. MobiKwik Zip, their flagship BNPL product, focuses on the Indian middle-class population, enabling them to make payments in their daily lives. In addition, MobiKwik Zip is focused on providing this unserved Indian population with their first credit experience.
Protium
Suppose you are looking for a fast, efficient, and easily accessible way to finance your business. In that case, you can consider Protium, an Engineering-Driven Pan India lending company that empowers millions of credit-seekers through the power of cutting-edge technology and smarter risk assessment.
With a keen eye on risk management in India, Protium efficiently empowers small- and medium-scale businesses and consumers to make quick and convenient purchase decisions. Founded by former Goldman Sachs Partner Peeyush Misra, Protium is now a prestigious lender with over 80 ranches in 60 cities across the country.
The company makes credit conveniently available and accessible by operating under Protium Finance, Protium Money, and Protium Sakshara, which lend finances to MSMEs, consumers, and educational institutions. It uses proprietary models to assess revenues and growth to equip and empower its customers with financial solutions like secured and unsecured loans of up to INR 5 Crores to small businesses in tier 1, 2, and 3 cities and personal loans to the consumer segment.
Protium is on a mission to ensure that no deserving credit-seeker misses out on a line of credit just because of their location, language, or lack of access to formal institutions. The company has disbursed over Rs.4,200 crores in loans, built a loan book of more than Rs. 2250 crores, and is financing 1,00,000+ MSMEs in India.
Paytail
If you’re in need of instant digital finance that can be paid in easy EMIs, you can consider becoming a merchant partner with Paytail, a trailblazer in the offline retail space in India.
Founded in March 2021 by banking industry veterans Vikas Garg and Amit Chaturvedi, with a combined experience of over 3 decades, Paytail is revolutionising offline commerce by enabling instant paperless no-cost EMIs to consumers and transforming merchants’ selling experience through scalable technology solutions.
Paytail enables merchants to offer 0% EMI led directly by OEMs and other sellers, leading to better sales. The Made by Bharat, Made for Bharat startup is disrupting the $1 trillion offline commerce market by bringing affordability, speed and convenience to customers. Using the Paytail app, a retailer can approve EMIs for their customers within a few taps.
Since its launch in 2021, Paytail has amassed over 1M+ app downloads and created a network of 45+ institutional financial partners and 85000+ retail merchants across India.
Castler
If your business is taking a hit due to fraud and delayed payments from buyers, then a digital escrow might be the solution you seek.
Founded in 2020 by startup veterans Vineet Singh and Dinesh Kumar, Castler is a pioneer in Digital Escrow in India. The company endeavours to build a transaction banking-focused escrow solution for enterprises for both domestic and cross-border transactions. Castler aims to democratise escrow services for mass adoption amongst consumers and MSMEs to eliminate fraud.
Today, the company is the trusted escrow solution for over 150+ enterprises. It offers multiple services in addition to fraud protection like digital lending, business loans, money pool, dealer distributorship, software escrow, logistics etc.
The platform has assisted various enterprises by securing almost 10,000 crores over the last year with its Digital Escrow Service, backed by leading banks. Castler provides swift, smart, and convenient business solutions to its customers with services like real-time notifications, trusteeship assurance, access to a real-time dashboard, lowest cost solution, and convenient e-signing of an escrow agreement.
Meesho
Starting out on your own as a small-scale business can pose its own set of challenges, among them being, not having an exclusive website to market your products. Here’s where platforms like Meesho can provide you with a one-stop online marketplace to reach more customers.
India’s fastest-growing internet commerce company, Meesho, aims to make eCommerce accessible to all. Their vision is to enable 100 million small businesses in India, including individual entrepreneurs, to succeed online.
Started in 2016 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal as a reseller-focused platform enabling millions to sell online, Meesho has now emerged as a single ecosystem connecting sellers to consumers and entrepreneurs.
Resellers, enterprises and individuals can share products listed on the Meesho app either on their network or on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc. and earn a share of the profit with every sale.
With over 1 Lakh beauty, fashion and lifestyle products featured on Meesho, the platform has created a lucrative avenue for sellers to earn profits and small-scale enterprises to establish an online presence at no cost.
Source : PR Agency