FinTech & crypto launches in the month

The Tech Panda takes a look at recent Fintech and crypto launches.

Pencilton launches India’s first debit card with NCMC for teens

Pencilton, a teen-focused fintech startup, launched PencilCard, India’s first debit card with NCMC for teens. PencilCard is an NCMC-compliant (National Common Mobility Card) RuPay debit card specially designed for the teenager segment. It has been launched in partnership with Transcorp.

Following the principles of Bauhaus, the card’s design and packaging minimize wastage during manufacture and unboxing. Users can activate their card via the Pencilton app for loading money, getting a category-wise spend analysis, blocking/unblocking cards, setting limits, setting savings goals, saving in a ‘digital piggy bank’, finishing chores given by parents for bonus pocket money and accessing a variety of other functions.

The Pencilton app allows for gamified learning around pocket money, facilitated by interactive community involvement, making it more than just a payment app. Quizzes and exercises at various levels are included in this type of learning, and youngsters can earn PencilPoints while learning about money.

Speaking on the launch, Vishwajit Pureti, Co-founder and CEO of Pencilton, said, “We are very excited about the launch of PencilCard. The fintech for teens space has grown rapidly in recent years, highlighting the need for innovation and technology adoption to make financial literacy more accessible to teens. Therefore, Pencilton chose to bridge the market gap by introducing India’s first Debit Card for teens with NCMC that encompasses the very best of the ever so vibrant Indian fintech ecosystem.”

This is an incredibly smart generation who is adept with the latest technology, and we think they deserve to have a taste of the very best of the fintech revolution too

“This is an incredibly smart generation who is adept with the latest technology, and we think they deserve to have a taste of the very best of the fintech revolution too. So, we are launching the PencilCard, which is the most advanced debit card for teens, probably more advanced than the debit cards many of their parents have too, which will help onboard them into the digital financial ecosystem,” Vishwajit further added.

Features

• Doubles up as a metro card and bus card – an all-in-one card. The debit card can already work as a metro card for travel in Delhi (Airport line) and as a bus card in Goa (across KTC buses).
• Scheduled to be accepted for metro travel in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai as well as in BEST buses (Mumbai) very soon.
• A contactless prepaid debit card that can be used for payments across various channels, including retail shopping offline, online shopping, travel and in the future – tolls and parking
• Capable of storing seasonal tickets and monthly passes, using which Mumbai Local authorities are planning to let season ticket holders top up the ticket via the card and purchase tickets
• It’s also a Platinum RuPay card, and therefore comes with additional benefits like free access to lounges at all airports in India

Biz2X powered Made in India middleware platform Maadhyam launched for lenders and aggregators

Fuelling the government’s mission of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Biz2X, a Digital Lending SaaS platform that enables financial institutions to provide a customized online loan origination and servicing experience launched ‘Maadhyam’, an integrated cross-channel ecosystem middleware that brings more than just automation and analytics to the lender-borrower equation.

Maadhyam enables banks and NBFC’s to lend more easily, efficiently, and effectively. At the same time, it gives industry aggregators the ability to facilitate seamless and real-time credit among their partner networks. With the help of Maadhyam, the lenders will receive the data through APIs while experiencing a reduction in cost of financing loans for MSMEs.

SME’s hold the potential to script the next wave of overall economic growth in India… Thus, we are aiming to invest US$25 million over the next 3 years to grow Maadhyam and make India the fintech capital of the world

Commenting on the new product launch, Rohit Arora, CEO and Co-founder, Biz2Credit and Biz2X said, “Last year, we have made an announcement to support “Aatmanirbhar” mission of government by investing in Made-in-India Fintech products. With the launch of Maadhyam, we are now one step closer to our mission.

“SME’s hold the potential to script the next wave of overall economic growth in India. With Maadhyam, we will power India’s SMEs by assisting them with better and faster credit decisions. Thus, we are aiming to invest US$25 million over the next 3 years to grow Maadhyam and make India the fintech capital of the world.”

Features

• Facilitates quick credit for MSMEs and provides them multiple lenders as options
• Is powered by next-generation technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
• As a SaaS offering, the cloud infrastructure supporting Maadhyam enables the platform to be device agnostic and omnipresent

Aqilliz launches first of its kind music and entertainment NFT marketplace WishWorld

Aqilliz, a Blockchain-as-a-Service company building tools and technologies that prepares the marketing industry for the Web3 world, has set up a first of its kind, curated music and entertainment NFT marketplace, WishWorld in partnership with One Mercuri, a leading multi-domain business group headquartered in India.

Built as a marketplace, WishWorld provides creators and artists a platform to exchange their creations with their fans in the form of exclusive experiences; and fans will be given an opportunity to directly exchange their collections with other community members as well.

NFTs cannot be treated as a one of sale or a gimmick; it needs to be treated as an extension of the brand in the virtual world

WishWorld released the first set of exclusive assets from Music Maestro Ilaiyaraaja on the 14^th of February.

Gowthaman Ragothaman, CEO of Aqilliz said, “There is too much being talked about NFTs without a strategy in place. We look at NFTs as a consumer engagement tool that brings a brand closer to the consumer. NFTs cannot be treated as a one of sale or a gimmick; it needs to be treated as an extension of the brand in the virtual world. I am extremely honored to be launching this marketplace with none other than the maestro himself to start with and sincerely thank Sriram for giving us this opportunity.”

Features

• WishWorld will be releasing 100 unreleased albums from Music Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s treasured personal collection as digital collectibles
• Will include original soundtrack, along with interesting anecdotes, features, and even musical notes from these compositions

CrossTower launches ‘Over the Counter’ service for Indian HNIs & institutional investors

CrossTower, a global crypto exchange launched personalised ‘Over the Counter’ services for its Indian users. With the launch of its new feature, CrossTower aims to guide, assist and enable High-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and institutional investors to trade in crypto assets. Aimed at large-volume traders and institutional investors, CrossTower’s OTC Desk provides deep liquidity 24×7 across multiple crypto-assets and ensures the best prices.

More than US$17 billion has been poured into digital assets worldwide by the end of 2021. Also, CrossTower observed that 70% of its platform’s trade volume is accounted for by institutional investors and large-volume traders in India. With the increasing adoption of digital assets by HNIs, CrossTower’s new feature will make trading crypto assets convenient for its Indian users. It will not only encourage India’s crypto adoption but also help establish the country as a major player in this sector.

Given the rapid uptake of digital assets by large-volume traders, we aim to make trading crypto assets for those investors as convenient as possible through this personalised crypto OTC Desk feature

Amit Arora, Head of Growth and Partnerships for CrossTower India said, “In it’s recent budget, the Indian government has taken a step towards establishing a progressive policy that will benefit the innovation, economic growth and financial inclusion of its citizens. It can be done by validating the asset class and easing the uncertainty that surrounds the digital asset sector. At CrossTower, we believe it is a positive step towards retail trading, followed swiftly by institutional adoption. Given the rapid uptake of digital assets by large-volume traders, we aim to make trading crypto assets for those investors as convenient as possible through this personalised crypto OTC Desk feature.”

Features

• Ensures fast, secure and private trading of digital assets
• Considering the high volume of traders, there is a low-risk element, which saves investors time and money
• The traders are KYC compliant, which eliminates all fraud
• Permits investors to buy and sell substantial amounts of digital assets with low price slippage
• Investors can conduct significant transactions with high liquidity on a secure platform suited for high-value and high-volume investments
• Provides a relationship manager to each investor opting for the service and daily personalised daily crypto market update to investors