Times Internet spin-out Abound raises $14M to let more Indian Americans send money home
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, based on a World Financial institution report. Abound goals to faucet this development with its cellular app.
“Indians are among the many largest immigrant teams within the U.S. The typical family earnings within the U.S. is near $58,000, and the common Indian family earnings is about $150,000. That tells you that Indian expats are rich, prosperous, and but they’re vastly underserved when it comes to services which are geared for them,” mentioned Nishkaam Mehta, CEO of Abound, in an interview.
Mehta, who labored at Hulu as head of its cellular technique and development for greater than 4 years, joined Instances Web 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 Instances of India Group.
Initially named Instances Membership, Abound permits customers to ship cash to India, earn rewards, and get cashback on providers together with reside 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 task for banks themselves to be part of the platform,” Mehta informed TechCrunch.
The corporate claims it has processed over $150 million in remittances in complete 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 up to now 12 months, Mehta mentioned.
Abound generates advert income from rewards and overseas change unfold on cash remittances. International change presents vital potential for development, Mehta acknowledged. The startup mentioned The Instances of India’s over 50 million month-to-month on-line guests exterior India additionally assist it attain new customers and supply a variety of rewards.
“In cash remittances, when you purely play the change price recreation, then you definitely’re all the time buying the consumer,” mentioned Mehta. “In our case, as a result of we’ve acquired this rewards layer from the Instances of India and different native advertisers, we don’t have that downside. We will all the time compete on change charges, realizing that we don’t have the identical buyer acquisition price that the opposite corporations may need.”
This seed spherical was all-equity, and was led by NEAR Basis, with participation from Circle Ventures, Instances Web, and different traders. The corporate plans to make use of the recent money to increase its presence, enhance its choices and enhance its tech infrastructure.
“Conventional banks within the U.S. don’t concentrate on 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,” mentioned Gajwani.
Following the deal, Instances Web will proceed to be the most important stakeholder in Abound. Gajwani informed TechCrunch the Instances Web could be “utilizing its strategic belongings to assist speed up Abound’s development.”
The market of platforms enabling overseas remittances is crowded with incumbents akin to Western Union, PayPal and MoneyGram, in addition to newer gamers like Remitly and Sensible. However Mehta thinks Abound has an edge because it “tremendous serves” customers by providing aggressive change charges in addition to rewards and cashback at about 5,000 Indian grocery shops and entry to live-streamed cricket — by far the preferred sport in India.
Abound at the moment has a crew of 40 folks, based in India. It plans to increase its headcount and arrange an govt crew within the U.S. as effectively.
In time, the agency plans to enter markets akin to Canada, Singapore and the UAE, which all have huge populations of non-resident Indians. Nonetheless, Mehta mentioned the speedy focus is to cement its footing within the U.S. after which run pilots in overseas markets.
