Fintech

Flipkart-Backed Super.money Joins the UPI App Race with Credit-First Approach

• ByStartupStory     |    August 22, 2024

Flipkart-backed financial services platform, Super.money, has officially launched its credit-first UPI app for all Android users, following a successful beta phase that began in June. The fintech platform, a subsidiary of Flipkart, is set to introduce its credit-on-UPI product in two weeks, signaling its ambitious entry into the highly competitive UPI market.

“In the beta phase, the RuPay card and bank account-linked UPI service was open to all users and saw 1 million downloads and over 10 million transactions. The credit-on-UPI product was limited to a few hundred users and we have started waitlisting users for the roll-out,” said Prakash Sikaria, Founder and CEO of Super.money, in an interview with YourStory. Sikaria, who previously served as Senior Vice President at Flipkart, played a pivotal role in driving growth initiatives such as marketing, ads, and Shopsy. He was also on the board of travel platform Cleartrip before founding Super.money.

Super.money aims to fill the gap left by the demerger of PhonePe from the Flipkart Group in April 2023. With a dedicated team of 80 professionals, 70% of whom are focused on product development and engineering, the platform is poised to become a major player in the UPI space. However, Sikaria emphasized that Super.money does not intend to follow the paths of lifestyle apps like CRED or payment giants like PhonePe, which currently commands nearly half of the market share in UPI transactions.

“By December 2024, our aim is to be among the top five apps in the UPI space. As we see the market currently, by the end of the year there will be four to five players clocking nearly 100 million transactions on their platforms, and the market share will see better distribution over the next few years,” Sikaria added.

The Indian UPI ecosystem has witnessed exponential growth, with transaction volumes reaching 14.4 billion in July 2024, amounting to Rs 20.64 trillion crore in value. Super.money plans to leverage Flipkart’s extensive distribution network to reach digital-native young customers, a demographic that increasingly relies on offline payments, which UPI services make more accessible.

“The instance of offline payments is higher than online and hence UPI increases the relevance of the product for the customers. We are looking to acquire the customers through Flipkart and our own marketing, who will leave a greater footprint on the Super.money app through offers, financial product use, gamification, and other strategies,” Sikaria explained.

In the coming months, Super.money will roll out multiple financial products, including fixed deposit products, personal loans, and other credit and payment solutions. While the platform is currently focused on consumer-facing financial products, Sikaria hinted at the possibility of exploring business-to-business financial products in the future.

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