Making Small Business Big

The last 18 months have been challenging on both personal and professional fronts for everyone. From lockdowns and shutdowns, to people adapting to new ways of working, and businesses innovating to address changing customer expectations -- the list of challenges seems endless. Despite this, the tough at Chqbook got going to have emerged stronger, which reflects in both our reach and scale?today.?

Despite operating in a dismal economic scenario, or perhaps because of it, we have received a phenomenal response to our neo banking platform that was launched amidst the pandemic, in September 2020.?Chqbook, through its full-stack mobile platform, re-bundles financial services for 60 Million small business owners in India, giving them access to Current Accounts, a bookkeeping service for cash transactions, lending and insurance, all accessible in multiple regional languages.?Adding ingenuity and incentives across products, we run a gamified rewards program designed from the ground up.?Chqbook's multi-product approach is effective in holistically empowering small business owners by catering to all their financial needs. This is evident in the impact we’ve had in less than a year.

We crossed 1 million app downloads and serve over 650,000 transacting customers?today. The Chqbook app processes over INR 30 Billion of annualised transaction value.?

Several factors have contributed to this growth. The resilience of small business owners, coupled with their innate ingenuity to innovate and adapt in the changed situation, induced a push towards digitalisation with hyper adoption of digital payment systems. New regulations, such as the enablement of video KYC for sole proprietorships to open bank accounts and access other financial services, served as yet another catalyst. Ubiquitous mobile phone usage & penetration continues to be vital in bringing banking services to this massive demographic.?

At Chqbook, we are committed to solving for this community and aim to lend over INR 300 Billion, open 1 million accounts, and insure 10 million customers over the next few years. Early days yet, but the accounts, credit, and insurance gap are so wide that the opportunity will require multiple players to join this movement.

Our success so far, the vast opportunity ahead of us and our continued commitment and resolute focus to solve for the small business owner is validated with our latest round of funding. Chqbook has raised?INR 400 Million in a Pre-Series B round for ramping up user acquisition and strengthening technology. This equity round is led by existing investor Aavishkaar Capital and the Rajiv Dadlani Group. It also saw participation from Earlsfield Capital U.K., and reputed Family Offices and HNI investors including Jeremy Lim, Bhupesh Kumar, Nilesh Srivastava, and others.?

None of this would be possible, without the grit and toughness of our teams across GurgaDelhi and Bengaluru, and their belief in our common vision. The vision to make fintech more inclusive, that brings consequential change in the lives of small business owners and helps create enduring societal impact.?

All our actions are guided by this purpose. We firmly believe that empowering a single generation can go a long way towards enriching the lives of several future ones.?

Undeniably, the insurance and credit gap is vast, a?US$1 Trillion credit gap as per industry estimates &?therein lies the opportunity to build and improve on the fintech ecosystem. Our strategically focused business model, a resolute team and a highly aspirational user base, gives us full confidence in not just our ability to build resilient and profitable growth but also create generational impact with our work .