Fintech Startups
Financial technology, commonly known as Fintech, has gained momentum over the last few years. In fact, studies show that the rate of investment in this sector is growing by 45% each year, with $13.7 billion having been plowed back into startups within the last year alone.
As investments continue to boom, finance and banking are rapidly being transformed by innovations such as crowdfunding, peer-to-peer models, and contactless payments. These developments have been driven mainly by Fintech startups all across the world such as LendingKart.
Non-Banking Financial Companies or NBFCs provide essential banking services to the public but don’t hold any official banking license. Some of the services they offer include a provision of loans, credit facilities, and private education funding. Financial Technology companies use new innovations as well as available resources to compete with conventional financial institutions and intermediaries in delivering fiscal services. Some examples of NBFC’s include:
1) LendingKart
It’s an Indian-based startup company that aims to make it easier for entrepreneurs to access working capital finance so that they can put their efforts into running the business rather than thinking about cash-flow gaps.
The firm has developed advanced tools for data analysis which enables lenders to assess borrower’s creditworthiness, as well as other related services. Formerly known as Aadri Infin Limited, LendingKart is a zero-deposit taking NBFC providing SME lending within India.
Through their analytics tools, they can analyze 1000s of data points from different virtual sources and determine the creditworthiness of small businesses applying for financial assistance. Other benefits of LendingKart are:
a) Simple Registration process. It only takes 15 minutes to register an application is 100% online.
b) Doesn’t require any Net Worth or Collateral information
c) Cash is disbursed in only 3 days at the fairest interest rates.
d) Requires minimal documentation, for e-commerce investors, only VAT returns and bank statements would be required.
II) Qonto
Qonto is a Paris-based FinTech startup that provides online banking services to entrepreneurs, other startups, and SMEs. Opening an account with them is easy and only takes 5 minutes, once you have one it’s possible to instantly receive an International Bank Account Number (IBAM) and begin managing your firm’s physical and digital business cards, as well as performing day to day operations.
Founded in 2016, Qonto has plans to reach an even wider audience outside France in the next few years. At the start of 2017, they managed to raise $1.7 million in seed funding from Valar Ventures and Alven Capital, who are well-known business angels.
Advantages of Non-Banking Financial Companies
1. Makes payments easier and faster
When it comes to business, NBFCs make it simpler for SMEs to accept monetary payments through cheap and convenient terminals.
2. Provides technological advancements in cash management so as to stay competitive in the business world
Unlike banks that are mostly stuck to the old way of doing things, NBFCs are evolving each day in order to stay relevant with the times. They provide technological excellence that’s unheard of in the conventional banking sector.
Not only are NBFCs rethinking what a banking institution should look like, they are also re-imagining how it should work. Germany’s Fidor was one of the first revolutionary banking models operating more like an app-store than a conventional lender. For provides essential financial services and also allows customers to use 3rd party products like currency trading or peer-to-peer loans.
