An 18-year-old Mayank Goyal during his first journey overseas realized that he had accumulated 12% in interest on his college loan and additionally had to pay 5% to remit the money abroad. He didn’t realize the significant markup he was paying for debiting foreign currency until after a few trips.
Starting his journey to find a better solution for his problem, he spoke to various people from several demographics and socio-economic statuses to better understand the state of cross-border transactions in India. Following his research and analysis, Goyal founded moneyHOP in 2020.
Goyal, founder and CEO of the company told Entrackr, “The prevalent infrastructure was brick and mortar, which were in premium locations with large branches and staff to take care of it, resulting in a higher cost of operation. Hence, the cost to the customer was huge.”
moneyHOP is a cross-border neo banking platform which enables its users to make payments in the respective currencies without worrying about maintaining accounts in various countries and the medium to transact. The platform enables its users to have a multi currency bank account and a card product allowing them to send and spend money globally in any currency.
Among its two main offering are the HOPApp, which allows users to maintain a multi-currency bank account, do real-time on-app currency exchange and spend in local currencies when abroad; and HOPPermit: a web-based international money transfer platform which lets users send money abroad in a digital, economical, and seamless manner.
Explaining the process Goyal said, “When users have an account with us, they can choose a certain amount that they want exchanged to the currency of the country they are traveling to.”
The company has raised a total of $2.5 million across three funding rounds with its latest one raised in April 2022.
The company’s app has revenue sources such as foreign transaction commissions, interchange and revenue on float and the HOPPermit generates revenue through foreign transaction fees.
The fintech company’s ultimate goal is to be a part of making the process of banking paperless, presence less, and cashless. The company currently has around 60,000 users.
moneyHOP’s target market is currently Indian residents, with a focus on the significant number of travels made overseas by Indians for both personal and professional reasons. Before expanding on and taking on new clients, it aims to capture a sizable market share of the Indian market.
Currently headquartered in Bangalore and London, the company plans to provide neo-banking services in the UK by mid-2023 and branch out and open offices in Dubai to facilitate inbound and outbound remittance in the EMEA region.
The fintech market in India was valued at $50 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $150 billion by 2025. With such a growing market, the country has recently seen the emergence of numerous fintech startups. moneyHOP faces competition from companies like NiYo, Nium, Fi, Transferwise, and Revolut.
