Chennai-based BankBazaar is infusing $750K (S$1 million) growth capital in its Singapore unit BankBazaar International that will operate BankBazaar.sg portal. The company will use funds to scale technology, strengthen the expansion strategies, and establish its first financial marketplace in Singapore.
Adhil Shetty, co-founder and chief operating officer, BankBazaar said,
BankBazaar is experiencing (a) spectacular growth in India and we are looking to replicate that winning formula in Singapore. While the Indian market continues to be my focus, we believe the future of fintech is global and Singapore is one of its capitals.
According to him, the Singapore counterpart will start generating revenue from the next quarter, and he expects revenue from the city state to grow to 10% by March 2017. Shetty said Singapore market is larger than the Indian market in dollar terms. BankBazaar is also set to explore markets in other Asian and select Middle Eastern markets.
He also said,
Singapore has a great market potential. The country is very different from India in terms of consuming financial products; they (consumers in Singapore) take a larger (amount of) household credit, overall consume more mortgages and credit cards; and because it is in dollar value, the average ticket size also is larger.
Aman Narain, chief executive of international operations, began heading BankBazaar’s operations in Singapore in February. The unit offers financial products such as loans and credit cards.
Founded in 2008 by Adhil, Arjun Shetty and Rati Rajkumar, BankBazaar plans to launch electronic know your customer (eKYC) based mutual fund products in India in coming weeks. The company has raised $80 million so far from investors including Amazon, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, Sequoia Capital and Walden International and claims an average of 7 million visitors per month.
The platform provides financial products such as credit card, loans and insurance through the web-portal, made-for-mobile web service, or its app available on the Android and iOS. It offers a wide range of financial products from over 75 financial institutions in India, where a user can search for offers, compare options and apply for the financial product.
It helps consumers compare best offers across various banks and NBFCs. The consumers can track their application and troubleshoot issues in the process through a host of channels like the BankBazaar app, WhatsApp, email, voice-support etc.
