India Lands First SMB Credit Card Via EnKash
India will see its first small business credit card product, according to EnKash, which announced the roll-out of its commercial card tool on Monday (Aug. 5).
Dubbed the Freedom Card, the solution has operated in beta phase for the last few weeks, reports in IndianWeb2 said. EnKash is targeting startups with the credit card product, connecting small and medium-sized businesses with a revolving credit line to make vendor payments, manage employee travel expenses, make utility payments and more.
In addition to connecting startups and SMBs with a commercial card solution, the Freedom Card on-boards users to the EnKash platform to automate accounts payable and accounts receivable operations, reports noted.
“Currently banks offer corporate credit cards and we partner with most of them to enhance the experience,” said EnKash co-founder Naveen Bindal in a statement. “While we continue enhancing our capabilities for these bank partnerships, we realized that specific products are required to address use cases which are peculiar to underserved SMEs and startups as their requirements are different.”
“These segments are not able to benefit fully with the existing solutions on the market, be it for enhancing their short-term credit requirements or convenience or just simply getting access to a commercial credit card,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mayfield, one of the firm’s investors, described the Freedom Card as a “natural evolution” for the B2B payments company.
Last April Mayfield and Axilor Ventures led a $3 million Series A investment round in EnKash. At the time, the startup said it would use the funding to grow its leadership team.
The company’s collaboration with banks has also helped it to augment its B2B payment services, with collaboration with Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank allowing corporate buyers and suppliers to seamlessly connect, transact and access trade finance solutions.
“Businesses in India have been struggling with manual payment processes for a long time,” said EnKash co-founder and CEO Yadvendra Tyagi in a statement at the time. “We are easing B2B payment problems for thousands of businesses today.”