Slice, one of India’s most innovative fintech startups that has took upon the goal of revolutionizing the credit card industry in the country, has raised $20Mn from existing investors Gunosy, Blume Ventures among others.
More and more Indians are moving towards the formalized banking sector, thanks to the wave of digital payments in India that has given rise to the likes of Paytm, PhonePe, and even invited the attention of global players like Google. However, credit cards still make up for a very few percentage of all transactions in India, simply because most people find them too tiresome to operate.
The hidden costs of signing up, annual fees and ‘minimum monthly expenditure’ leaves a lot to be desired, and thus, most Indians, even those who qualify for a credit card, don’t bother to get one.
This is where Slice comes through, with its “super card” offering. The company claims that it has no hidden fees, and makes the entire process of getting a credit card a breeze. Moreover, it also aims to solve one of the biggest problems plaguing the credit card market of India-lack of good benefits, and has launched Slice Rewards, allowing consumers to get upto 2% rewards on every card transaction which are instantly redeemable to cash.
It offers an app that customers can engage with directly, promoting transparency, something that lacks in the current credit card market. Moreover, using this app, Slice customers can also scan QR codes, much like GooglePe, to pay at local stores.
That’s not all, as with this fundraise, Slice has added a new feature-“slice in 3”, allowing members to slice their card bills over 3 months for free, which means they can get upto 90 days interest free period – the longest in the industry, according to the company.
Rajan Bajaj, Founder & CEO, slice points that banking industry in India has always viewed credit cards as a loan product rather than a high frequency payment instrument, thus shifting the focus from customer experience to optimizing the fees related to credit cards.
“However, we see it as a payment product, and we are solving it as a consumer experience problem with a ‘customer first approach’ in mind. Any small friction in product experience can lead to a magnitude of reduction in market size, which is what is happening in India today – we believe 400 mn+ Indians are eligible for a credit card but we just have 30mn unique customers in the country. This approach gives us a strong word of mouth among our customers due to their love for slice. It has directly resulted in our customer acquisition cost being 10 times lower than banks, which becomes a great competitive advantage. We are therefore able to pass on the benefits to our users via these game-changing offerings,” he said.
With all of its offerings, and low customer acquisition cost, Slice aims to become the leading credit card provider in the country.
