In Conversation with the co-founder of FamPay
A glimpse into the journey of the start-up that has made pocket money digital for India.
Imagine if you could get your pocket money digitally every month? Imagine if you didn't have to depend on your parents every time you wanted to make an online purchase?
And parents, imagine if you could track your child's spending habits. With FamPay, you don't have to imagine these scenarios anymore! You can actually do all of this.
India's first neo-bank for kids, FamPay is working towards making kids more financially independent by allowing them to make online payments without relying on their parents. It has provided over 2 million users with FamCards, India's first numberless debit cards, enabling them to understand how money works from a young age.
Through its fun game-like interface, FamPay's app makes finance fun for kids and motivates them to save money.
So, how did this revolutionary idea evolve? We talked to FamPay co-founder Kush Taneja to bring to you the details of the journey behind this cool product.
Creating for the Future
Over 40% of India's population is under the age of 18. Yet, no one in the finance sector was catering to this market.
However, Kush believed that the "next billion lies in the youngsters." He and his co-founder thought that there was a great potential in this untapped sector to create a higher impact. So, they decided to invest in the future generation to help them invest for their bright future. To do this, they took up a massive challenge: Making Banking Fun!
Understanding Money Matters
The journey began in December, 2018, when Kush and his co-founder Sambhav Jain were in the final year of college in IIT Roorkee. Kush saw that most of his friends were just looking to score high-paying jobs and not focusing on their passion or their dreams. How could they? After all, they had to build a secure future.
His friends' ideas about money and what an important part it played in their lives made him realize how crucial financial education was.
He understood that those ideas were shaped during their childhood and so he and his co-founder initially decided to create a financial literacy course for kids.
However, they soon realized that youngsters were not interested in learning about finance through books or courses. So they came up with the idea of helping them learn through experience by letting them actually handle money. Oh! The kids jumped with joy.
That’s how the team realized that this is the product that they have to make.
Catering to a Tech-Savvy Generation
To make sure the idea appealed to parents, they added a feature which would allow them to monitor how their kids are spending money. But to ensure that their product could truly make banking fun for the tech-savvy generation, they designed an app that they would love using.
They integrated cool graphics and in-app challenges to promote saving that would be easily adopted by a generation that sees apps as a way of life. They also designed Instagrammable-debit cards that teenagers would love carrying and showing off to their friends.
Their groundbreaking idea has already become a huge success, getting them funding worth over $42.7 million from investors like Elevation Capital and Y Combinator, but they are now working on creating a user base that not only needs their product but also loves it (their North Star metric). They aim that their product will help reduce the average age of investment in India by teaching kids about the concepts of spending and saving from an early age.
Kush's Motto for Success
The motto that guides Kush is "Let curiosity lead your life," something that we at ReadOn also strongly believe in. In fact, when asked why he decided to create a venture like FamPay, he said that because there was no reason not to do so!
Kush also believes that if you learn how to deal with money well, you solve 90% of your problems. And it is this idea that he wants to bring into the lives of kids and empower them to be financially independent.
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P.S: This is not a paid post