Abound, a remittance app that was spun off by Times Internet in 2023, has raised $14 million in its first exterior funding spherical because it goals to achieve extra Indian expats within the U.S.
Remittance flows to India are rising because the Indian diaspora spreads worldwide. In 2024, the South Asian nation recorded $129.1 billion in remittances, accounting for 14.3% share of the worldwide market and topping the charts, in accordance with a World Bank report. Abound goals to faucet this progress with its cellular app.
“Indians are among the many largest immigrant teams within the U.S. The common family revenue within the U.S. is near $58,000, and the typical Indian family revenue is about $150,000. That tells you that Indian expats are rich, prosperous, and but they’re vastly underserved by way of services and products which are geared for them,” stated Nishkaam Mehta, CEO of Abound, in an interview.
Mehta, who labored at Hulu as head of its cellular technique and progress for greater than 4 years, joined Times Internet in 2019 after assembly its vice chairman Satyan Gajwani to create a “tremendous app” for non-resident Indians. The startup was incubated on the tech arm of Indian media conglomerate, The Times of India Group.
Initially named Times Club, Abound permits customers to ship cash to India, earn rewards, and get cashback on providers together with stay sports activities streaming, grocery procuring, and OTT subscriptions. The agency has plans to discover avenues to let customers entry high-yield financial savings, India-focused investments, and cross-border credit score options.
“In our mannequin as an excellent app, we envision a job for banks themselves to be part of the platform,” Mehta instructed TechCrunch.
The firm claims it has processed over $150 million in remittances in whole from its greater than 500,000 month-to-month transacting customers, and that its income has elevated by 50% month-over-month since launch.
Abound’s remittance quantity elevated by 15% each month and the startup processed $110 million to $120 million previously 12 months, Mehta stated.
Abound generates advert income from rewards and overseas trade unfold on cash remittances. Foreign trade presents important potential for progress, Mehta acknowledged. The startup stated The Times of India’s over 50 million month-to-month on-line guests outdoors India additionally assist it attain new customers and provide a variety of rewards.
“In cash remittances, in case you purely play the trade fee recreation, then you definately’re all the time buying the person,” stated Mehta. “In our case, as a result of we’ve bought this rewards layer from the Times of India and different native advertisers, we don’t have that downside. We can all the time compete on trade charges, realizing that we don’t have the identical buyer acquisition value that the opposite corporations might need.”
This seed spherical was all-equity, and was led by NEAR Foundation, with participation from Circle Ventures, Times Internet, and different traders. The firm plans to make use of the contemporary money to develop its presence, enhance its choices and enhance its tech infrastructure.
“Traditional banks within the U.S. don’t deal with the monetary necessities of this phase as a result of there isn’t any banking product constructed only for the NRI inhabitants. We see that as a big hole and alternative,” stated Gajwani.
Following the deal, Times Internet will proceed to be the most important stakeholder in Abound. Gajwani instructed TechCrunch the Times Internet could be “utilizing its strategic belongings to assist speed up Abound’s progress.”
The market of platforms enabling overseas remittances is crowded with incumbents equivalent to Western Union, PayPal and MoneyGram, in addition to newer gamers like Remitly and Wise. But Mehta thinks Abound has an edge because it “tremendous serves” customers by providing aggressive trade charges in addition to rewards and cashback at about 5,000 Indian grocery shops and entry to live-streamed cricket — by far the most well-liked sport in India.
Abound at the moment has a crew of 40 folks, based in India. It plans to develop its headcount and arrange an govt crew within the U.S. as properly.
In time, the agency plans to enter markets equivalent to Canada, Singapore and the UAE, which all have massive populations of non-resident Indians. Nonetheless, Mehta stated the fast focus is to cement its footing within the U.S. after which run pilots in overseas markets.
