Managing 18,000 Crores AUM 🚀| Ep05: The India Opportunity Podcast with Kushal
Knight Fintech's journey into becoming a monopoly and securing a 60% market share in co-lending
Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Podcast where you get a front row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators and successful leaders from different fields to bring to you real life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.
5th episode of The India Opportunity Podcast is out now! You can watch it on Youtube or tune in on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Our guest today is Kushal, founder and CEO of Knight Fintech, a company that is building banking infrastructure that helps banks and financial institutions improve operational efficiency and customer service, enhance digital experiences, comply with regulations, mitigate risks, and increase agility in the competitive financial sector, with their API driven, digital first, approach. For those who don't know, Knight Fintech currently manages assets over INR 18,000 Crores - what a phenomenal feat! Prior to Knight Fintech, Kushal, an IIT Roorkee graduate, cofounded Quant Magnum for portfolio management and has previously worked at a leading European hedge fund. I’m excited to deep dive with Kushal into the fintech space today and learn more about both Knight Fintech and how the industry is evolving with the large-scale digital transformation they’re enabling.
Takeaways
Knight FinTech is a banking infrastructure company that helps banks and financial institutions improve operational efficiency, customer service, and digital experiences.
The co-lending model has the potential to disrupt the lending space, and Knight FinTech has a 70% market share in the co-lending infrastructure space.
The market opportunity in the lending and treasury space in India is significant, with the potential for partnerships and growth.
Kushal Rastogi's childhood experiences and his time working at a hedge fund in Europe shaped his thought process and prepared him for entrepreneurship.
Knight FinTech's success is attributed to their focus on understanding the problem statements of large institutions and leveraging cutting-edge technology to provide solutions.
The unit economics of the co-lending model are healthy, benefiting all stakeholders involved, including borrowers, lenders, and Knight FinTech. Knight Fintech works with 8 out of 12 public sector banks, including Banco Boluda and Yuko.
They also work with AIFIs and large institutions in the refinancing and co-lending space.
Knight Fintech helps fintech companies integrate their products with banks by handling all the heavy lifting.
They act as a layer that is deeply integrated with the banking ecosystem, making it a simple API integration for fintechs.
Knight Fintech partners with fintech companies in the aggregation model and the FLDG model.
His personal ambition is to have a large, sustainable, and scalable business that is IPOable.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction and Background
2:14 - Role of Technology in Business Growth
5:25 - Competitive Differentiation
13:04 - Customer Acquisition and Retention Strategy
19:02 - Revenue Model and Monetization Strategy
38:22 - Fintech-KN Partnership Use Cases
40:47 - Personal Business Ambition
46:47 - Setbacks Shaping Entrepreneurial Perspective
53:02 - Books, Podcasts, and Resources Influencing Kushal's Journey
54:28 - Personal and Professional Goals
56:24 - Inspirational Figures and Lessons Learned
57:58 - Reflecting on Life's Regrets and Pivotal Decisions
1:00:23 - Insights on Equanimity and Decision-Making 1:03:02 - Book Title for Kushal's Life Story
1:03:57 - Reflections on Kindness and Gratitude
Follow Kushal here: LinkedIn
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Disclaimer: The content presented in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
