Who is Slice?
Slice is an Indian Fintech Start-Up headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Led by Rajan Bajaj, the Founder and Chief Executive of Slice, they are taking on the credit card business of Indian banks. The company’s target customers are millennials and the Gen Z population of India in the average age demographic of 23 years who have inadequate credit worthiness or a non-existent credit score. Some of the services offered by Slice include bill payments, expense management, and a rewards system. Slice is a credit card-based utility payments start-up, and they provide their customers, credit limits through their own balance sheets. Slice recently raised $20 M in a funding round backed by Blume Ventures and Gunosy Capital.
What is the Slice Super Card?
The Slice Super Card is a Visa credit card for Indian youth. The USP of this card is that it’s a lifetime free card without annual fees, hidden charges, or joining fees unlike a traditional credit card offered by a bank.
Idea behind the Product
Slice’s super card is a product that’s being positioned as one of the best ‘credit card challengers’ in India. Slice’s super card has shown the potential to change the upcoming generation’s perception of credit cards. It’s been hailed as the ‘best way for millennials and Gen Z to make payments.
When the founder of Slice interacted with his friends, he learned that although credit cards are useful financial tools, they found them too complicated to use. That is the moment when the ‘Super Card’ product was conceptualised. It was built to simplify credit card usage and make it more accessible to the Indian youth.
Credit card usage in India
There is a huge disparity between the circulation numbers of credit and debit cards in India. While the number of debit cards in circulation has long crossed the 1 billion-mark, credit cards are still averaging in the 50 million.
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Slice’s super card has shown the potential to change the upcoming generation’s perception of credit cards.
What’s in it for me?
The much-needed conversation around credit cards has increased in the fintech space. Whether it’s ‘Fampay’ giving a financial education to Indian teens, or CRED which is famous for its stellar rewards, and of course, Slice, fintech start-ups have identified the challenges around credit in India. This space is open to innovation since credit and loan products from traditional banks and financial institutions are notorious for their lack of user experience.
The hustle culture is strong among Indian youth where they don’t stick to a single paying job but work on multiple freelance projects. These customers aren’t recognised by banks and are largely ineligible for loan and credit parts. Taking the cue from Slice, focus on the customer experience and adopt a ‘customer first’ approach while creating payment and loan products. The current Indian consumer base who can be eligible for credit and loan products is in the 400 million range which fintech start-ups are yet to acquire. The market is huge and is for new entrants who can bring in innovation.
