5 Child-focused FinTech start-ups in India

By Leandra Monteiro

Today, a large proportion of Indian parents still do not want to involve their children in discussions about money or finance, as a result of which they lack a basic understanding of money and financial tools. With India becoming one of the fastest growing FinTech markets in the world, several new-found FinTech start-ups are exploring children’s financial markets to educate children and teenagers and make them financially independent.

Data from the National Center of Financial Education (NCFE) Financial Literacy and Inclusion Survey 2019 states that only 24% of respondents in rural areas are financially knowledgeable, while literacy in the urban population is 33%. The survey itself gives a hint as to where the resources need to be focused. Against this backdrop, a new type of FinTech start-up company has emerged whose primary goal is to impart financial expertise to children and make them make money.

Here are 5 FinTech start-ups that help young Indian children and teens achieve financial freedom:

FamPay is an Indian online and offline card payments for teens. With FamPay and its countless prepaid cards, minors can succeed with online and offline payments without having to set up a bank account.

It is a debit card that minors can use to make online (UPI & P2P) and offline payments without a bank account. Co Founded in 2019 by IIT Roorkee candidates, Kush Taneja and Sambhav Jain. The card has no numbers as all the details are stored in the app, so the teenagers do not have to refer to the physical card and there is no fear of information theft in case it is stolen or lost.

Fyp is a payment app and a countless prepaid card for teenagers, with which they can make online and offline payments without creating a bank account. India’s first holographic card, it comes with a one – touch blocking feature on the Fyp app. Founded by Kapil Banwari, it works in collaboration with YES Bank and Visa and aims to help teenagers learn financial management and concepts.

Junio ​​is a child-focused smart card and an app that allows children under the age of 18 to make purchases online and offline. Co-founded by former Paytm Senior Vice President Shankar Nath and Ankit Gera, it is based on the pocket money concept. To use this card, a child does not need a bank account, and parents can set limits on online expenses and cash withdrawals from the ATM, so that the children can only use the amount loaded on the card.

The card has a limit of 10,000 INR per month with a minimum of KYC, while INR 5,000 is the daily limit on the Junio ​​card. A full KYC makes it possible to transfer up to INR 1 lakh per month. The app also provides real-time alerts when the child uses the card, and you can monitor consumption.

Pencilton offers virtual and physical RuPay debit cards, PencilCard, to teens and students to help them manage their expenses while learning how to manage money. The app allows parents to give pocket money to children, while keeping track of their expenses and learning real money. The card was founded by Hyderabad-based technicians, Pureti, Ashish Singh, Pallavi and Viraj Gadde, and can be activated and managed via the Pencilton app.

Among the first companies to launch the concept of prepaid cards for children in India, in 2010, Slonkit was co-founded by Javed Tapia and Murad Naithani. It is a prepaid Visa card that can be recharged, connected to the mobile app, which allows parents to give a monthly allowance to children.

The app is available on Android and iOS, and helps parents transfer money instantly, create budgets, set transaction limits, build guide rails, analyze their child’s spending across categories and set alerts. Slonkit’s vision is to reinvent how parents and children manage pocket money.

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