Rajan Bajaj, founder of fintech Slice, chimed in on a Twitter thread earlier this year and wondered aloud what he needs to do to turn his startup into a unicorn before he turns 30.
At just 28, Bajaj has figured it out.
reported early last month that Tiger Global and Insight Global were in talks to back Slice. A source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch that the round could grow further to \)"> 250 million.
Slice has established itself as one of the market leading card-issuing firms in India. The startup offers a number of cards that are aimed at tech-savvy, young professionals in the country. “These users have been on Instagram and Snapchat for years,” said Bajaj in an interview with TechCrunch.
“The bar for consumer design is very high for them,” Bajaj said of Slice customers. “We don’t have to educate them on how to navigate the app. It’s intuitive for them. They want simplicity and transparency.” The average age of a Slice customer is 27, which is also about the age of the team at Slice that is building the app, he said.
Image credits: Slice
And it’s a huge market.
Despite nearly a billion Indians having a bank account, only a tiny fraction of this population is covered by the South Asian nation’s young credit rating system. As we have outlined in the past, Indian banks heavily rely on archaic methodologies to determine an individual’s creditworthiness and whether they deserve a credit card. Their conclusion: it’s too risky to give a credit card or even a loan to most Indians.
Slice is tackling this by using its own underwriting system. Such is the confidence it has in its underwriting system that in September this year, it launched a card with
Slice will deploy the fresh funds to expand its product offerings. In the coming months, it plans to launch support for UPI, Bajaj said.
It may also launch some new cards, one of which may be focused on teens, the aforementioned source said. The startup is also working on a decentralized product called ‘&ID,’ Bajaj said in a LinkedIn post earlier this year. “It has become second nature for us to jump between identities whether we are online or offline. What if we stop and think about one ID that can be used everywhere and is fully controlled by you? Picture an ID that can be used to accept payments, do KYC, make investments, apply for a visa, rent a car or even create a unique link to all of your brand’s social presence online — without any censorship,” he said in the post.
Slice’s UPI offering will be the first product to adopt &ID. The startup is also looking to hire more people, he said. Slice last month announced that it is offering new hires a three-day week with steady pay and benefits to attract talent that wishes to work on other opportunities — or do whatever else they like — at the same time.
“Slice targets an underpenetrated market in India and seamlessly allows users to make online payments, pay bills and more,” said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners, in a statement, “There is a large opportunity in the credit and payment space in India, and slice is well-positioned to become the leader in the industry. We look forward to this partnership with slice as they continue to scale up and grow.”
At just 28, Bajaj has figured it out.
Slice, which was valued at under \)">200 million in a financing round in June this year, has joined the unicorn club with a fresh
Slice has established itself as one of the market leading card-issuing firms in India. The startup offers a number of cards that are aimed at tech-savvy, young professionals in the country. “These users have been on Instagram and Snapchat for years,” said Bajaj in an interview with TechCrunch.
“The bar for consumer design is very high for them,” Bajaj said of Slice customers. “We don’t have to educate them on how to navigate the app. It’s intuitive for them. They want simplicity and transparency.” The average age of a Slice customer is 27, which is also about the age of the team at Slice that is building the app, he said.
Image credits: Slice
And it’s a huge market.
Despite nearly a billion Indians having a bank account, only a tiny fraction of this population is covered by the South Asian nation’s young credit rating system. As we have outlined in the past, Indian banks heavily rely on archaic methodologies to determine an individual’s creditworthiness and whether they deserve a credit card. Their conclusion: it’s too risky to give a credit card or even a loan to most Indians.
Slice is tackling this by using its own underwriting system. Such is the confidence it has in its underwriting system that in September this year, it launched a card with
Slice will deploy the fresh funds to expand its product offerings. In the coming months, it plans to launch support for UPI, Bajaj said.
It may also launch some new cards, one of which may be focused on teens, the aforementioned source said. The startup is also working on a decentralized product called ‘&ID,’ Bajaj said in a LinkedIn post earlier this year. “It has become second nature for us to jump between identities whether we are online or offline. What if we stop and think about one ID that can be used everywhere and is fully controlled by you? Picture an ID that can be used to accept payments, do KYC, make investments, apply for a visa, rent a car or even create a unique link to all of your brand’s social presence online — without any censorship,” he said in the post.
Slice’s UPI offering will be the first product to adopt &ID. The startup is also looking to hire more people, he said. Slice last month announced that it is offering new hires a three-day week with steady pay and benefits to attract talent that wishes to work on other opportunities — or do whatever else they like — at the same time.
“Slice targets an underpenetrated market in India and seamlessly allows users to make online payments, pay bills and more,” said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners, in a statement, “There is a large opportunity in the credit and payment space in India, and slice is well-positioned to become the leader in the industry. We look forward to this partnership with slice as they continue to scale up and grow.”