Startup Story: Finwego | School Ecosystem Lender
Recently, India has risen as a FinTech Industry Leader with the highest FinTech Adoption Rate of 87% (EY Global Fintech Adoption Index 2019). The FinTech Sector of India is growing at a CAGR of 22%. These numbers are tremendous, keeping in mind that India is a cash-driven economy. Due to this growth, many FinTech Startups have emerged in the Indian Startup Ecosystem. Among those FinTech startups, one is Finwego.
Startup Story: Finwego | School Ecosystem Lender
Today’s startup story is about a FinTech Startup, Finwego.
Finwego provides customized loans to schools, management,vendors, staff, as well as teachers.
Finwego Founders and Funding
This Chennai based FinTech Startup was founded by Pavee Ramanisankar and Shiv Vadivelalagan in 2018. Finwego has received a total funding of $3.7M.
How Finwego Started?
Pavee Ramanisankar was leading a K-12 school chain, Akshara Vidyaashram, and when she needed some working capital, she realized that banks and lending companies in India are doubtful about providing working capital to schools. Later on, in 2018, she started her lending company, Finwego.
How is Finwego different from other FinTech Startups?
Finwego is a school ecosystem lender that provides customized loans to schools, vendors, management, staff as well as teachers. Explaining the aim of Finwego, Co-founder and CEO of Finwego, Shiv Vadivelalagan said,
“There is a demand-and-supply side to the school ecosystem. The supply side includes schools, staff, vendors, and suppliers, which Finwego focuses on. We don’t focus on the demand side, which includes parents, as other players are trying to solve for that part of the ecosystem.”
Present Situation of Finwego
Finwego claims to have close to 500 school partnerships and is adding Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 4 crore to its loan portfolio every month. Also, Finwego has impacted the financial lives of 10K+ school staff and has its presence across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Pondicherry.
Future Plans of Finwego
As per the founders, there is a strong need for lending from the private school ecosystem in India alone. Finwego aims to grow 10x their present growth rate and reach a loan book size of Rs 250 crore by the end of the financial year 2021.