What is Fund My Staff, Ashneer Grover's new fintech start-up?
What's the story
Ashneer Grover, the former MD and co-founder of BharatPe, has launched a new fintech platform called Fund My Staff. The innovative service allows employers to act as guarantors for loans on behalf of their employees. The primary goal is to provide credit access to workers with little or no credit history. Grover announced the launch in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.
Platform functionality
How the process works for employers and employees
The platform is designed to be user-friendly for both employers and employees.
Employers can onboard their staff, decide on loan amounts, review requests, and approve them as guarantors.
Once approved, the money goes into the employee's account, who then pays it back through monthly EMIs.
Employees can also initiate this process by sending a loan request to their employer on the platform.
Regulatory compliance
Lending partners and compliance with RBI guidelines
The platform operates as a Lending Service Provider (LSP) in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) digital lending guidelines.
Loans are sourced and approved by RBI-registered lending partners.
Currently, Ash Grove Capital Private Limited, an RBI-registered non-banking financial company (NBFC), is listed as its lending partner on the website.
Clarification
Clarification on employer's role in loan process
The platform has also clarified that employers do not pay the loan amount. They just act as guarantors while the employee gets the money and repays it over a chosen tenure.
This clarification is important to understand how the platform works and what role each party plays in this process.
Business development
Fund My Staff follows other ventures by Grover-led team
Fund My Staff has been developed by Third Unicorn, the venture founded by Grover and Aseem Ghavri after Grover's exit from BharatPe.
In 2024, the company launched ZeroPe, a fintech app for medical expenses financing.
It had also launched fantasy cricket platform CrickPe which shut down in February last year.