Behind the Investment: slice opens up financial freedom to India’s fast-growing millennial and Gen Z spenders

A slice card makes the credit experience simple, transparent, and fun like never before. Younger generations have not been able to experience this financial freedom until recently. 
 
Even though most individuals in India have bank accounts and debit cards, only a sliver of this banking population has access to credit cards, or less than 35 million, according to industry estimates. Moreover, the nation’s young credit-rating system covers only a small fraction of this population, making it tediously challenging for them to own a credit card.

slice is addressing this gap through its slice super card, a prepaid visa card with a credit line that allows hundreds of millions of Indians to enjoy credit card-like benefits as well as to build their credit score.

Per the growth rate of digital payments population, India could have as many as 100 million credit cards as well as BNPL users in the next five years, driven largely by addition of new digital-first millennials to the workforce. These “digital-first” millennials have traditionally been under-served by traditional banks due to lack of a robust credit history. Enter slice. Offering superior digital experience and flexible payment options, slice is looking to play a major role in expanding the credit card penetration in India by offering anyone, especially younger, new users, access to a credit line and a physical card. Perspective users can sign up with slice in seconds, quickly get a virtual card (and get a physical card delivered to their home) and enjoy up to 2% cashback on each transaction. slice has also made it easier and more convenient for users to pay their bills by letting them “slice” the bill into 3 months instalments at zero cost. It recently launched a $27 USD-limit credit card earlier this year to attract even more early users. 

Insight Partners is co-leading this Series B round with Tiger Global as slice grows with more users and eventually expands into more financial products. slice’s strong brand loyalty (just look at their Instagram posts) and high app ratings keep users satisfied with the product. slice consistently takes on leading competitors in the Indian neo-card space and comes out on top. It’s already one of the top 5 card issuers in India, only behind more traditional entities like banks. 

With a close and long relationship with CEO Rajan Bajaj, Insight has seen slice develop beyond its early days, which started with offering BNPL product for college students who didn’t have any spending history. With a razor-focus on superior product and customer experience as well as cutting edge risk underwriting model, Bajaj has been able to evolve slice into one of the leading “fintech” brands in India. It’s quickly become a one-stop shop for young customers' financial needs. Insight is coming along for the journey.
 

Nikhil Sachdev Managing Director More By The Author