Fin-Tech has been one sector in India’s startup ecosystem which has seen both — good, innovative ideas and decent VC money. The latest in this list, is Mumbai based financial insurance start-up One assist, which has raised $7.5 Million from insurance services provider Assurant Inc and existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital India.
The start-up founded by Gagan Maini and Subrat Pani offers protection related to loss or theft of credit cards and smartphones. Once the users register with the company, their information is stored and all activity occurring on their lost cards and phones is subsequently blocked. Its makers have provided a novel solution to prevent misuse at a time when users are relying on their smartphones for online shopping and transactions.
Both cards and smartphones are increasingly becoming your identity as you don’t leave home without them.
said Maini,
The company has revealed that it plans to allot the funds to marketing and expansion of its work force. Its founders have also set an ambitious but achievable target of 300 million users encompassing both debit and credit card holders and 150 million smartphone users in India.
One assist also provides replacement of lost PAN cards and Driving Licenses and currently offers four flagship products, which are: Mobile assist, Wallet assist, Everyday assist and Trip assist.
Mobile Assist, as the name suggests, is to protect your smartphone from damages. One assist offers services like doorstep delivery and pick for damage repairs, temporary handset while your smartphone is in repairs among others.
Wallet Assist is meant for insuring your credit/debit cards from theft or fraud. Once you register, every time your stolen card gets used, you will be continuously informed via OneAssist with the card being blocked.
Everyday assist and Trip Assist are a combination package of the above two service, albeit for specific situations. Everyday assist is a plan which protects your SIM/Cards as long as you remain subscribed. Trip Assist is meant to insure your belongings while you are off to a vacation.
Over the last few years, OneAssist has created strong and differentiated subscription based product offerings across mobile, card and wallet protection verticals. The startup has partnered with leading Indian banks — HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank for its WalletAssist product. It has also partnered with top Mobile OEM’s and mobile retailers, both offline and online to make its products available to their customers. One Assist claims to have a subscriber base of over 200,000 customers and with an impressive 3x year-on-year growth.
These investments has meant that the Indian startup ecosystem has already surpassed $1 billion of funding in the first quarter of 2015. The belief of investors in this revenue model is one of the reasons why top global investors such as Sequoia, Tiger Global, SAIF-Partners have invested staggering sums into the Indian market, with Tiger Global already investing $600 million in India, this year alone.
The management firm has also announced its plan to establish a co-working space for startups under its banner in Bengaluru.
Only a few days ago, Chamath Palihapitiya, the man behind Californian venture capitalist firm Social+Capital Partnership, had announced, that his firm intends to invest around $1 billion into India in the next 10 years, across unconventional sectors.
