Eleventh Episode of Crafting Bharat Podcast Series Featuring Krishnan Vishwanathan, Founder & Executive Director of RING and Kissht, Delves Deep into the Indian Startup Ecosystem

Krishnan Vishwanathan, Founder & ED of Kissht discusses his entrepreneurial journey, building s solution-oriented business and trends in the FinTech Industry with host Gautam Srinivasan.

Entrepreneurship is in the air! India has witnessed a surge in the number of startups over the last decade with an increasing tech-savvy population. The pandemic changed the way people consume services with the growth of digitization making everything accessible. 

The "Crafting Bharat - A Startup Podcast Series" powered by AWS, and an initiative by NewsReach, in association with VCCircle, unlocks the secrets behind these successful entrepreneurs’ journeys aiming to equip aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts with invaluable insights. The podcast series is hosted by Gautam Srinivasan, famed for hosting a diverse range of TV and digital programs, currently consulting editor at CNBC (India), CNN-News18, Forbes India, and The Economic Times.

India’s rapid adoption to digitization is opening new avenues for budding entrepreneurs, and intrigued and determined entrepreneur Krishnan Vishwanathan, Founder & ED of Kissht, is on a mission to make the borrowing experience of individuals seamless. In the Crafting Bharat Podcast Series, Vishwanathan talks about his entrepreneurial journey, building s solution-oriented business, and trends in the FinTech Industry.

Explore the tales of Indian startup founders' transformation from dreams to reality, navigating challenges to seize opportunities through the Crafting Bharat Podcast Series.

Segment 1: The Incubator

While you try to solve for A particular customer, you seem to have ended up solving for customers of many other segments. What does this blurring of lines indicate for how you approach your business now?

If I'm a new start-up today, starting with access to credit on a differentiator will fall by the wayside within six months, and therefore the answer must be something beyond that. For us the answer has been evolving from a product innovation standpoint, lending is one of the most commodity and a centuries-old product. Large institutions today would not even afford basic flexibility for a person to choose his own loan amount, repayment schedule, repayment flexibility if he wants weekly or monthly. I mean these are basic things we started on day one. The segment we started with I'm not talking about the affluent segment I am talking about the segment we started with a lot of people who are irregular salaried and small business owners. 

How do you survive and manage to stand out from the pack?

When you put risk and your customers first, I think the solutions start appearing in front of you. The drawback for some of these things are we've probably grown slower than some of our peers. I know a couple of organizations started after us technically on paper valuation they're ahead of us. It doesn't bother us because we know we are here for the long term. We are here to create an institution like Infosys and TCS. Something that will outlive us and I think that approach is unit economics-based fundamentals not chasing undue growth and keeping customers first. 

How do you view GenAI helping you with this big opportunity? What are the next-level use cases that you see GenAI delivering for Ring? 

GenAI is a very wide canvas, and I am not an expert, but I'll tell you where we are focusing on with GenAI today in the company. We are today focusing on two things; one is mass customization and improving interaction with the customer. Ring is a culmination of saying how do I blend payments and lending into one platform which is very seamless to the customer. The idea being that we want to be a one stop solution to the customer. 

Segment 2: The Accelerator

Take us through the highlights of your funding journey.

There are two big highlights. First, all our early-stage investors continued to remain with us and in fact they have invested in the last round as well, which is a testament to the fact that they believe in us, our business model and our team. Second big highlight is that we have always chosen investors not for the capital but something more they bring, whether it is market connect or international peer exposure that they give us. That has really helped us remain and largely we have chosen investors who share the same long-term vision as us.

If existing lending products are viewed as digitized versions of their earlier analog experiences, What’s the second layer of innovation of a truly digital lending experience going to look like? 

I am belaboring the point, but it must be menu-driven mass customization. It must be something that fits. Customization has happened in other industries and generally, people feel that it might not work in financial services, but it must be the way forward. I think the needs of specific customers are very different.

The startup ecosystem is continuously evolving with newer sectors growing with increasing internet penetration and digitization. The country’s steady growth and commitment to science and technology, is emphasizing technology-driven innovation in shaping India’s future. 

Stay tuned to the Crafting Bharat Podcast Series as they bring you these inspirational entrepreneurs for insightful and candid discussions with Gautam Srinivasan.

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