Khatabook Launches Automated Bot Call Reminder Feature to

  Khatabook Launches Automated Bot Call Reminder Feature to Improve Credit (Udhar) Collection for its Merchant users

India’s first Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based feature deployment for MSMEs 

Khatabook, India's leading fintech startup has released the Automated Bot Call Reminder Feature to improve the credit / Udhari collection for its Merchant userbase. The Automated Bot Call Reminder is the first Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based feature deployment exclusively for MSMEs, which is made available in nine Indian languages.

Money recovery for sale on credit / Udhar vaapsi has been a major business pain point for MSMEs in India. The text-based recovery reminder feature on Khatabook app has contributed tremendously in scaling the app because of its impact in improving cash flows for the users. This new capability is a premium voice enabled feature designed to further simplify and improve Merchants' credit collection from their customers through Automated IVR calls using a third party service. This feature is categorized into four sub-features: Automated Call, Bulk Call, Collection Dashboard, and Call History. The automated calls placed through Khatabook Call reminder feature are followed up with text-based SMS with payment collection links for fast recovery. In addition, users who need to collect payment from multiple customers on a particular date can do so by setting up bulk call reminders.

"In our endeavor to set a benchmark in the MSME tech space, we are democratizing processes for small businesses by providing them access to the digital tools which were used only by large organizations earlier. As per Khatabook user insights, nearly 30 percent of customers of any merchant require an extra nudge for payment collection. Building on this need as we look to maximize value for our users, we have introduced the Automated Bot Call Reminder feature to save the merchants' time on follow-ups and enhance their credit recovery through automation. We are using tech as an equalizer of the opportunities." Said Ravish Naresh, CEO, and Co-founder, Khatabook.

Amidst the growing demand for technology solutions by India's MSMEs, Khatabook experienced 150 percent Y-o-Y growth in FY 20-21. The startup has recently closed a USD 100 million Series C funding round, with a valuation close to USD 600 million. Khatabook intends to focus on financial service disbursement through its tech platforms catering to 10Mn+ Monthly active users distributed throughout the geographical expanse of the country.

Khatabook raises USD 100 million in Series C funding round

                         Khatabook raises USD 100 million in Series C funding round, 

                                    announces ESOP buyback worth USD 10 million

• The round is led by Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV)
• The start-up has expanded the ESOP pool, which now stands at USD 50 million
• With fresh funds, Khatabook will focus on financial services disbursement through its software ecosystem catering to 10 million monthly active MSMEs
• Khatabook plans to accelerate hiring to strengthen its engineering, product, design, analytics, and data science capabilities

Khatabook, India's leading fintech start-up, today announced it has closed a USD 100 million Series
C funding round, with a valuation now close to USD 600 million. The round was led by US-based VC firms Tribe Capital and  Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV). Other investors in this oversubscribed series C round were Alkeon Capital, with continued investment participation from internal investors B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, RTP Ventures, Unilever Ventures, and Better Capital. In addition, Balaji Srinivasan Sriram Krishnan participated as independent investors, among others, in Khatabook's series C funding round. 

The startup is buying back USD 10 million worth of ESOPs to acknowledge and reward employees, ex-employees, and early investors who contributed to the company's growth. Eligible employees will be able to sell as much as 30% of their vested options. Khatabook has also expanded its ESOP pool to USD 50 million.

Amidst the growing demand for technology solutions by India's MSMEs, Khatabook experienced 150% YOY growth FY 20-21. Currently, Khatabook, across all its software products, has over 10 million monthly active users. Besides the flagship ledger application, Khatabook, the company is also focused on the growth of its software ecosystem for MSMEs through its other apps -- Pagarkhata for staff management, Cashbook for expense management, and recently acquired Biz Analyst for insight-driven decision making and business management for Tally ERP9 user base.

 Khatabook has a user base in almost every district in India. In the next phase, the focus for the start-up will be financial service disbursement through its tech platforms. The financial services on the Khatabook platform will digitally foster lending, payment, and deposits related efficiencies in the ecosystem. As Khatabook builds financial services, it will be looking for the right partnership opportunities that enable the seamless rollout of solutions benefiting the economic aspirations of millions of small businesses.   

Besides building financial services, the funding will also help the start-up with strengthening its talent base. Khatabook, currently at the headcount of 200+ employees, will accelerate hiring, especially in engineering, product, design, analytics, and data science functions.

Ravish Naresh, CEO, and Co-founder, Khatabook, said, "The first phase of our journey was enabling digital transformation by building a tech ecosystem for Indian MSMEs. Now that we have created a widely accepted digital platform, the next step will be digitally-enabled financial services for small businesses. We are humbled by our investors' confidence in our mission to help local businesses succeed by providing them with the right digital empowerment. On this milestone for the company, we would like to acknowledge the contribution of employees and early investors through the ESOP buyback plan."

Arjun Sethi, Co-Founder and Partner at Tribe Capital, said: “At Tribe, we believe strongly in the power of the network effect and how it can create moats for businesses. Khatabook has successfully built such a network by empowering this seismic shift among MSME businesses to move from paper to digital, literally. Despite its large early success and fast adoption to date, the company is early in its path to power the segment. We’re thrilled to be a part of its growth as it leverages its network to build additional scale.”

James McIntyre, Senior Managing Director & COO of MSV, said: “We are excited to partner with Khatabook as they continue to provide millions of small & medium sized retailers in India with outstanding software products. This round will accelerate the growth of  technology products with which Khatabook’s customers can better serve Indian consumers.  Additionally, this round enables the launch of a next-generation financial services platform to escalate the growth of those same customers.”

Over the last year, small local businesses have adopted technology to become more operationally resilient in the face of the Pandemic. Khatabook represents the most extensive digital MSME network in India. The company intends to leverage this platform reach in building equal access to financial services.

Khatabook acquires Biz Analyst in a strategic move to

          Khatabook acquires Biz Analyst in a strategic move to strengthen tech offerings for MSMEs

 

• ‘Biz Analyst’ to operate as a distinct brand and offer premium value-added services to customers 
• Acquisition is a part of Khatabook’s ongoing efforts on monetization and growth
• The platform will enable Khatabook’s MSME customers to digitize operations for business growth by leveraging business analytics, sales force automation and digital invoicing

 

India's fastest growing fintech start-up, Khatabook, today announced the acquisition of Biz Analyst, a leading SaaS business management application, in a deal worth USD 10 million as a mix of cash and equity. With this acquisition, Khatabook aims to leapfrog into the next phase of growth and offer its customer base of over 10 million monthly active merchants an opportunity to scale up their businesses by utilizing premium value-added services. Creating a closer integration with their upstream supply chains -- distributors, wholesalers, traders, and suppliers -- Khatabook users can now seamlessly avail additional features to improve their efficiency through business analytics, sales force automation and digital invoicing.

 

Launched in late 2016, Biz Analyst is a cash flow positive business providing solutions to SMEs using Tally accounting software to automate daily business operations and make data-driven decisions to manage sales, inventory, outstandings and productivity. The company has achieved consistent growth and currently has over 80,000 paid users. Biz Analyst, now as a part of Khatabook, aims to double the user base in 2021 and create bigger opportunities for the network of its 1000+ channel partners.

 

The Biz Analyst team will continue to run independently, retaining Mumbai operations while maintaining synergies with the Khatabook headquarter in Bangalore. The original co-founding team of Biz Analyst Vaibhav Vasa, Mehul Sutariya, and Nilesh Zaveri will now be a part of Khatabook’s leadership team.

 

The acquisition is in line with Khatabook’s continued efforts to drive meaningful change and solve complex problems in-house through technology and focus on building the right infrastructure to empower MSMEs in the country. Utilizing Khatabook’s core strength, Biz Analyst’s tech solutions will potentially reach a widespread and massive network of MSMEs spanning almost every district in India. The tech and product development efforts will be scaled up while streamlining hiring and talent development under the Khatabook structure.

 

Commenting on this, Ravish Naresh, CEO and Co-founder, Khatabook said, “This deal is our first strategic acquisition as we intensify our network effects up the supply chain and focus on monetization. The features and strengths that Biz Analyst offers are the perfect extension to our present business portfolio. The acquisition is a step forward for Khatabook in its mission to provide business efficiency to India’s MSMEs through value-added services.”

 

The founders of Biz Analyst, Vaibhav Vasa and Mehul Sutariya in a joint statement said, “We are thrilled to join forces with Khatabook, a company whose core values and mission resonate with ours. Together, we look forward to expanding the digital adoption by SMEs through our affordable SAAS solutions and connecting businesses across different verticals onto a single platform. As the new chapter in our growth journey unfolds, we are excited to create bigger and better opportunities for our team, for our partners, and most importantly, for our customers, by bringing in products that cater towards solving day-to-day challenges faced by them.”

 

Over the course of the last year, several MSMEs and kiranas have adopted technology to become more operationally resilient. Powering the digital transformation of the ecosystem, Khatabook platform recorded 1.4 billion+ transactions with a cumulative value of more than $100 billion.