Akshay Mehrotra was working with a leading supermarket team, when he stumbled upon a business idea. He was on his way for a meeting in a different city, when a few team members told him they’d run out of cash since it was the end of the month.
It got him thinking, and when they reached their destination, he met up with a couple of friends to discuss it. A couple of days, meetings and discussions later, Akash — along with Ashish Goyal and Jay Jain — conceptualised an application that would solve month-end financial crisis issues.
They named the Fintech start-up earlysalary.com and the app — after successful launches in Pune and Bangalore — is now in Chennai. “Our research tells us that people need their salary money in advance, not just for major expenses like shifting houses, but also for frivolous things. It could be something as small as holidaying with friends or buying your friend a birthday gift,” says Akshay.
The solution for someone looking for quick cash (from Rs. 10, 000 to Rs. 1 lakh), currently, is borrowing from friends or parents. “There’s a stigma attached to that… how long can you keep doing that?” he asks. That’s where his application could help. By giving your GPS details, PAN and social media presence, the server machine analyses if they can give you a loan. “We don’t ask your salary… we derive it,” he says, matter-of-factly.
That they do by “marrying the user’s banking details with social media presence.” “A bank will never be able to do that,” he explains, “A physical signature is required only for the first-time login — and that will be done at the place you are.” The entire process takes less than 15 minutes — that’s one of the strengths of this start-up.
Chennai, he feels, is a huge opportunity. “There is a huge market in a tech city like Chennai, where young salaried professionals who have just begun their corporate journeys need a helping hand at the fag end of the month,” he says.
