Amit Kumar is a young-age entrepreneur with experience of over 9 years in the IT industry. With his impeccable engineering and IT skills, he founded GalaxyCard in 2018 to help people come out of the social guilt of borrowing money from their friends and family. He believes borrowing from private lending partners or peers is a long process and causes inconvenience in paying back. Thus, he developed a revolutionary concept of making credit cards accessible instantly through their exclusive app within 3 minutes. Presently, Amit spearheads business operations with his strong IT sense and leadership skills. He is working aggressively on capturing a huge user base in the country in the coming 5 years. Additionally, he is also planning to launch multiple products to expand its reach and dominate the market that’s still unsaturated.
The FinTech industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing industries globally. With new features and innovations, it is still upgrading and bringing disruptive changes in the industry’s transformation. Digitization of banks, mobile payments, digital currencies, online mutual fund investments, etc has given rise to fintech innovation. According to recent stats – India is amongst the fastest growing FinTech sectors in the world and has the highest FinTech adoption rate globally. In addition, the industry was valued at $50-60 Bn in FY 20 which is further expected to cross $150 Bn by 2025.
The amalgamation of Financial and Technology seems simpler than it actually is. It is the ultimate innovation in the banking and finance sector. The ecosystem of Indian FinTech has a wide range of subsegments that includes digital payments, lending, wealth and personal finance management, online insurance and regulations. One of the most disruptive innovations in the sector is the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) that has seen a participation of 261 banks with a recorded monthly transaction of 4.21 Bn in October 2021.
Considering the holistic scenario, FinTech is largely driven by non-bank entities that are offering solutions to the challenges presented by the traditional financial and banking system. It is transforming conventional value chain, business model and market positioning. Furthermore, it is enhancing customer experiences and expectations by involving a client-centric approach in the services of the sector.
However, the emergence of non-bank entities and digitization of financial services is not that simple. Creating a FinTech company or a startup that can thrive in the market requires in-depth information and a checklist to draw an illustration of market success.
Awareness about regulations
The banking and finance industries are highly regulated. There are many laws that govern traditional finance as well as the FinTech sector. Laws such as anti-money laundering (AML), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), Know Your Customer (KYC), and The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) play a crucial role in addressing opportunities and challenges arising with the adoption of new-age technologies. Thus, it is important to have in-depth information about regulations before starting a FinTech company.
Learning about these laws and regulations and how they are going to impact the startup’s business is another crucial point one needs to consider before starting up. Laws can vary from one country to the other and a startup anticipating global reach must apply for required licenses.
Identify your niche
FinTech is no longer a niche. It is a highly powerful and broad niche market in today’s digitally driven world. It works as an ecosystem offering better solutions in the industry. Whether it is an established financial company planning to move onto digital space or a novice, it is necessary to identify and have comprehensive information about the niche. With the adoption of advanced technologies, several niches have emerged such as lending apps that simplify loan approval and process for customers. Other most popular niches in the FinTech industry are electronic mortgage apps, Insurtech, Mobile banking, personal finance, peer-2-peer payment, trading and investment and crowdfunding. Considering the complex regulatory landscape, FinTech players offering regulatory compliance solutions are also dominating the industry.
Know your competitors
FinTech is expansive and growing at a fast pace, given the multitude of business opportunities. Before starting up, it is imperative to know the competitors as one will be entering the market with existing solutions. However, to be a game-changing startup, the product needs to identify certain gaps in that specific niche. On the other hand, if a FinTech startup fails to introduce an innovation but improves the quality of existing products can also prove to be successful. Therefore, it is necessary to study competitors with due diligence to create an incredibly winning business idea for the customers. This will help in making the product relevant to the target audience and staying ahead of the competition.
Build a team
Building a team for FinTech is quite a challenging part. It needs the right balance of experts from the finance and technology sector to drive a unique FinTech business. That doesn’t necessarily mean a FinTech startup needs to tempt the best people from established corporates and shell out massive salary packages. Before jumping on to conducting a hiring spree, it is absolutely critical to creating the right hiring strategy. The strategy needs to be adaptive, at the same time innovative to meet the diverse challenges of the market. While FinTech startups with low financial capabilities choose to work with third-party technology experts, app developers, security professionals, etc for a more cost-effective solution.
Choose your source of funding
Funding for a FinTech startup with expansive business plans initiates a strong foothold in the market. Given the competitiveness of the market, raising funds becomes an extremely challenging and tiresome task. There are many ways that startups can explore to get funded for their Fintech business including crowdfunding, bank loans, venture capitals, seed investors and many others. The startup should focus on having a minimum viable product (MVP) that presents a proof concept for the startup. It plays an integral role in improving the product and getting investors’ attention.
Build the company
This is the final step that requires precision in building that dream company. It is ongoing and stretches long into the future. It involves a number of many important things such as launching the startup, starting operations, improving the product features/functions/quality and integrating new-age technologies to build an impactful business. The best way to build a company is to start small and keep improving the product basis customers’ feedback. This reduces the risk of failure and rushing into the highly saturated market.
Takeaway
The FinTech industry is burgeoning with the emergence of startups with disruptive products and business ideas. Following the right set of steps and creating a robust strategy to build a FinTech company can offer the best opportunities to thrive in the market.