Fintech startup BankSathi raises $4 million in pre-series A round
Bengaluru-based social e-commerce platform BankSathi has raised $4 million in pre-Series A funding from Kotak Securities, Lets Venture, We Founder Circle, Hem Securities and Inflection Point Ventures.
The other investors who participated in the round include Recur Club, Liquiloans, Sunil Singhania (Abakkus), Kunal Shah (CRED), Dr Ritesh Malik (Innov8), Kailash Biyani (Asian Markets), Mukul Rastogi and Bhaswat Agarwal (ClassPlus), Varun Alagh (MamaEarth), Sameer Rastogi (India Juris), Manish Dabkara (EKI Energy) and Mukund Modi (MS Fincap).
The startup will use the funds to invest in high-caliber employees across operations and accelerate the development of new products and technology.
In addition, it will also invest resources to expand its agent network and geographic reach.
Founder and CEO Jitendra Dhaka said, “We are keen to make a major contribution in the Prime Minister’s mission ‘Develop India by 2047’ by increasing financial penetration through our technology-enabled financial advisors. With this funding, we will be able to expand product , technology and distribution networks at a faster pace.”
Strengthening micro-entrepreneurs
The BankSathi platform empowers consumers by providing the right financial products access to last mile users in Tier II and Tier III cities and remote locations. The startup claims to use prioritized algorithms to recommend financial products to advisors, based on the customer’s profile and past transactions. According to the company, this helps ensure that both customers and advisers receive the best recommendations.
“Today, small and medium-sized financial advisers/micro-entrepreneurs are not able to work directly with financial institutions. BankSathi enables these micro-entrepreneurs to sell and earn additional income by selling financial products online and make themselves financially independent and educated,” said Jaideep Hansraj, MD and CEO, Kotak Securities Limited.
According to CTO and co-founder Sandeep Kaler, BankSathi has an endeavor to empower 10 million financial advisors and serve 50 million+ customers over the next five years.
BankSathi’s advisor base claims to have increased by 40X and it has served a customer base of over three million across 18,000 pin codes. Its financial advisors include insurance agents, certified public accountants, product advisors, financial analysts, retired bankers and small businesses. In 20 months, the company earned an ARR of $10 million.
BankSathi partners with 60+ financial institutions including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda.
IRDAI recently approved an insurance license to the company to offer a more diverse portfolio of financial products to customers. The startup is on its way to bring affordable insurance options for customers in Tier II and less developed regions.
