Indian payment network for teens raises $4.7m
A group of investors including Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital India and angel investors have contributed $4.7 million in funding to FamPay, a social network for Indian teenagers centered on a parent-supervised payment service.
Other investors that contributed funding include Venture Highway, Global Founders Capital as well as several angel investors, according to an Inc42 article shared by co-founder Sambhav Jain on LinkedIn. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Bengaluru, FamPay seeks to build a social network based on a payment app targeting teenagers in the country and among the Indian diaspora. The app is currently not available on major app stores.
According to the firm’s website, the app requires a parent to add money to a family account. Teenagers can only pay for goods and services after receiving a user invite. The parent user cannot monitor individual transactions, but the app allows them to access the name of merchants and other FamPay users that the teenage user sends or receives money from.
The company claims it attracted over 20,000 users in a pilot program last year. It has partnered with IDFC Bank to issue debit cards, or stored value cards linked to a bank account, to FamPay users. The start-up plans to use the funding to expand its team and establish new commercial partnerships. It seeks to help children learn how to manage their finances.
“Most of the products built in India are focused on adults, and there’s nothing out there for teenagers between the age of 12 and 18 years. [Generation] Z [a term used to define the post-millennial generation] expects a combination of something cool, trustworthy, and social, and that’s the sweet spot we are working day and night to cater to,” said co-founder Kush Taneja.
Early users include several teenage programmers and other young professionals among the Indian diaspora. Many have launched apps to help solve various types of issues or achieve other personal goals like learning a foreign language. Users can interact with one another in the company’s social network.
Most Indian banks allow adult users to open savings accounts on behalf of their children and issue debit cards as well. Other leading payment apps specify that users younger than 13 cannot use their services but do allow teenagers to open and use accounts under assumed parental supervision.
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