CIOInsider India Magazine
Open to Sign Up 10 Million SMEs in Three Years
To address a number of issues SMEs experience in managing their financial operations, Open, a neobank sponsored by Google and Tiger Global, plans to sign up roughly 10 million small businesses in the next three years.
In collaboration with banks, Open provides a business account that aids SMEs in automating and managing their money. The company, which collaborates with the top 14 banks in India, hopes to sign up roughly 250 banks worldwide who will use its platform and technologies. It intends to expand its operations on a global basis in regions like the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Europe.
Competitors of Open include companies like Razorpay and British fintech companies Revolut and Tide.
Since raising a $100 million round headed by Temasek, Google, and SBI Investments, Open has become India's 100th unicorn. More than 2.3 million SMEs are now served, and $30 billion worth of transactions are currently processed annually. Every month, the platform welcomes 100,000 new entrepreneurs and SMEs.
With the help of the platform, firms can streamline expenditure management, collect payments, and make quick payouts. Other procedures for automating bookkeeping include maintaining compliance, auto-reconciling, and categorizing income and expenses.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently gave the company the go light to launch its new cross-border payments offering
Open is now entering the SME loan market as a logical move. In addition to its current SME credit card solutions, the platform is getting ready to roll out three additional products geared at increasing the capital requirements of SMEs. Among the new offerings are Open Flo, a revenue-based financing solution for online retailers, Open Settl, a credit offering for early settlement, and Open Capital, a working capital loan solution for SMEs.
Within the following 12 months, Open hopes to disburse $1 billion in lending through its new product lineup.
To address these needs, Open and IIFL Finance Ltd. have created a joint venture to open a neo-bank that would serve the banking and credit needs of micro and small businesses (MSMEs). It will provide an alternative to the usual banking experience. This involves offering a straightforward banking interface and seamless accounting, finance, and payroll integration.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently gave the company the go light to launch its new cross-border payments offering. This follows Open's completion of the second cohort's testing phase under the RBI's regulatory sandbox structure with the theme of ‘Cross Border Payments’. Open is one of the four organizations that have finished the regulatory sandbox of the RBI's testing phase.
