Meet Kaleidofin! A startup from Chennai, they embody the spirit of the ecosystem in their city. Read more about the Chennai ecosystem here.
KALEIDOFIN
The Chennai Ecosystem has drastically improved over the past 13 years. In addition to increased support for the market, private initiatives for coworking spaces have also seen a hike. Kaleidofin, a successful fintech startup situated in Chennai is helping in increasing impact in and around the city.
Kaleidofin is an organization that works with informal sector customers, providing them financial solutions for themselves and their households. They understand that people do not like engaging in financial services since they are hard and complex to understand. For this purpose, Kaleidofin gives underbanked customers a chance to achieve their goals by offering financial services. It does not only take time to understand individual financial vulnerabilities but also designs services that meet the needs of each customer.
Apart from the informal and rural sectors as the target audience, they have also expanded to the corporate sector. Kaleidofin soon realized that its first customers are the managers in the industry who are not even offered such services.
Funding has never been that big of a challenge for Kaleidofin. Their first round of financing was covered by numerous Angel Investors. Their seed funding round saw participation from The Bharat Fund, a CII initiative. In recent times, they have found a couple of new investors while their current ones have decided to increase stakes.
Read more about how Kaleidofin got funding through the Bharat Fund –
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/kaleidofin-startup-gets-bharat-inclusions-first-investment/article24761609.ece
Kaleidofin does not use many brand building and advertising strategies. With the kind of audience that they target, it is not the best use of their resources to use social media channels. Instead, the startup focusses on using assistant B2B channels where the partners scout customers for Kaleidofin. They plan on transitioning to influencer marketing in a few months.
One challenge that Kaleidofin constantly faces is related to Human Resource. It is hard to attract talent and as a consequence, it makes the search process longer. While they are optimistic about eventually finding the right people, a temporary solution, for now, is to offer a flexible environment.
On top of their future plans is the goal of crossing a million customers in the next 16 to 18 months. Some of the other dimensions that Kaleidofin want to focus on includes –
- Introducing more financial services.
- Making offerings comprehensive and easier to understand.
- Reaching a stage where the customers start transacting on their own.
In a city where its startup ecosystem has not lost its culture and charm, where the virtues of being an entrepreneur are recognized – Kaleidofin is flourishing and it plans to stay that way!
Contributed by:
Anoushka Chopra & Sanskriti Bhatnagar
Headstart Network Foundation