Pocket money for teens, digital banking, and neobanking applications are the latest trend in the fintech industry in the past year. New businesses are popping each month to cater to this previously untapped market. The basis of their origins appears to be unique one thing: financial inclusion.
Although many fintech companies cater to the adult population and also to geographically marginalised segments of India however, there are many avenues for youngsters to get involved in the world of finance. Before the rise of teen-focused financial platforms, the majority of the exposure teenagers had to finance was through banks that let them open accounts at banks owned by their parents, or through physically-based money.
Vineeet Gupta along with Mukund Rao Both of them, with teenagers, have had to deal with the current system.
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Our children’s bank accounts that we used for offering them pocket money faced a variety of challenges, from opening them to allowing our kids to access it without restriction, due to the restrictions on ATMs in banks or debit cards Vineet tells Business Headers
After assessing the actual situation they realized that although there was an addressable market (TAM) was vast but there was only a few platforms catering to teens.
They created muvin, a targeted for teens pocket money applicationfor teens and college students which aims to make students financially smart and teach them the basics of managing money and eliminate the complexities of “finance”.
muvin’s goal is to increase financial literacy for the 200 million young people in India and empower the youth with financial products that are suited to their requirements, says Mukund.
The company raised 3 million dollars in its pre-Series B round that was led by WaterBridge Ventures in January this year. It was a follow-up to an initial round of $1.5 million or more from HNIs across the country.
The fintech industry that is geared towards youth isn’t yet fully appreciated due to its early stages and is developing up, the sector has transformed the financial sector in India by capturing the market that few companies are catering to. The Indian fintech industry is predicted to reach $150-160 billion mark in 2025, as per the report from MAAS.
What is it that it does
The Bengaluru-based muvin app is a download application that can be utilized by children and parents alike. Parents need to install the app, then create profile profiles on behalf of their kids and then grant them access.
Parents can utilize the application to transfer pocket money to set up tasks, as well as pay on successful completion of each task as well as track the spending of their children.
Teens who use the app, in contrast are able to make purchases offline and online using an actual and virtual debit card. Paying with QR and UPI is available to those who complete an entire KYC. Customers can also make savings goals for items on their wishlist and then pay for each month.
It, along with the majority of other startups of its competitors, like FamPayand Junio offers educational video clips in bite-sized sizes and written content to educate kids and teens about the financial world and practices associated with managing money, such as saving as well as investing. It also teaches about taxes.
Vineet claims that, while muvin’s intended audience is 10-24 year olds, anyone can benefit from the platform.
We consider that our information we provide is not only to our immediate intended audience, but also for everyone who is looking to begin their journey into understanding the basics of financial concepts, he says.
Business model
The company doesn’t currently charge users any fees for accessing the platform. Instead it earns revenue through the interchange fees paid by merchants who accept card transactions.
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Fampay is, perhaps the largest competitor in the market currently, offers an e-commerce platform that is geared toward its intended market–i.e. children. This can also be a source of revenue for the business, apart from interchange charges.
For revenue numbers, Mukund says, We have met our targets for revenue, but did not reveal the exact figures. The app has three lakh downloads and 80,000 wallets that have completed their KYC.
The app has 50,000 people. Fampay has crossed the threshold of a million users, and Junio has around half one million.
The company claims it intends to increase its user base to one million users over this year’s time. The company could be able to raise more capital in the coming year to reach its goal of scaling.
