In Startup50 2017: ftcash is a fin-tech firm built to empower micro-merchants and small businesses with the power of digital payments and loans, only using a bank account and a feature phone. Backed by IvyCap ventures, ftcash serves a network of 25,000+ merchants and grew its revenues eight times last fiscal. 

Founders: Vaibhav Lodha, Sanjeev Chandak and Deepak Kothari 

Differentiation and Innovation in Implementation

ftcash, founded in 2014 and employing 108 people in its team, uses proprietary data of payments used to give loans, repaid using the payments platform. It is an open platform that allows all new payment methods to be incorporated in the system and does not have any exclusive wallets. This has led to a higher number of transactions and volume growth of 10x in the last six months. Apart from enabling loan payments from the app, ftcash also shares a unique hyperlink which does not require merchants to download the app. The merchants using ftcash platform can start accepting payments in less than 5 minutes only using a bank account and a feature phone.

California-based Tracxn Labs and Singapore Angels have also invested in this venture which has been selected by PayPal to join its incubator in Chennai in late 2015.

Two developments have triggered this app – the increasing gap between the haves and the have nots; and the widespread use of mobile phones, indicate that the future of banking could revolve around cost-effective mobile applications. ftcash captures a formerly ignored market like the micro-merchants, creates a simple way to access the payments into their bank accounts and make transactions in a faster, more convenient manner. ftcash enables that financial inclusion provides social and economic justice to these underserved communities.

The company has forged partnerships with more than 15 non-banking financial companies to provide working capital loans to its merchant partners at an interest rate of 18-30 per cent per annum. The company has so far disbursed loans to the tune of Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 5 lakh, to over 20,000 merchants on its platform. It also has lent around Rs 2 crore to 150 merchants under a pilot.

The company aims to scale up annual transactions to Rs 1,500 crore and disbursing loans to merchants upwards of Rs 150 crore, touching 60+ million users such as kirana stores, milk vendors, newspaper vendors, etc.

Quick Facts

Number of Merchants: 25,000+

15 – Partnerships with NBFCs

Transactions per month : Rs. 33 crore

Number of employees – 108