True Balance brings ‘Digital Gold' to its targeted 1 Billion Indian users

True Balance – a fintech app operated by Balancehero India, has recently launched digital gold, in association with SafeGold, a digital platform that allows sale, purchase and delivery of 24k physical gold, in small sizes, 24*7. The new product will be targeted at Indians across rural and suburban cities, with minimum purchase prices as low as Re. 1 and purchase times lesser than 10 minutes.

With this new feature launch, True Balance aims to stay true to its mission of empowering the next billion Indian users and provide them with easy investment options. To follow within the quarter, is the launch of mutual funds on True Balance with key focus on financially securing daily wagers, a key segment of the Indian demographic. With an average ticket size of INR 150 across the board, True Balance is confident of achieving initial traction to the tune of 2,000 to 5,000 transactions within this year.

“India has traditionally considered gold to be a symbol of wealth. According to the World Gold Council, wedding purchases and other factors have helped increase India's gold jewellery demand by 5% or ~125 tonne, year on year”, opined Charlie Lee, Founder of True Balance, adding, “It therefore made complete sense for us to bring India's favoured choice of saving, gifting and wealth-building to our targeted 1 billion users across India”.

App users will have the liberty of purchasing digital gold in units of both rupees and grams. Once purchased, the digital gold balance of the user will reflect on the True Balance app, which can then be bought or sold 24*7 through the app. Mode of payment for this gold will be across payment gateways, gift cards, UPI and free points.

“We are delighted to partner with True Balance to bring a meaningful savings option to customers outside of metros, and believe that digital gold can usher in disciplined and efficient savings in an asset class that is widely understood and accepted by all customers in India”, said Gaurav Mathur, Founder & Managing Director of SafeGold.

“We are already seeing more than 2,000 transactions daily on the app for this product”, said Jatin Dawar, Head Payments & Business – India, True Balance, also sharing that a 2.5% cashback would be offered on all purchases, with discounted delivery charges. Soft launched this Diwali, the Digital Gold feature saw about 10,000 transactions in the first few days. Jatin added- that the number of daily transactions is expected to go up to 5,000 in the coming fiscal.

The bulk of these transactions will be seen coming from Tier-II, III & IV cities across India.

As not only the largest importer, but also the largest consumer and holder of gold internationally, Indian households are stockpiles of close to 25,000 tonnes of gold . Festivals such as Akshaya Tritaya see national gold purchases soar to 20+ tonnes , helping the national per annum sale of the precious metal cross 750 tonnes on an average.

SoftBank funded True Balance Launches Recharge Loans for its 70 Million Users

True Balance, a one-stop payment solution app backed by Japan based multinational Soft Bank Group Corp has introduced ‘Recharge Loans’ a new digital loan service for its 70 million users. True Balance is offering first time ever less than Rs. 500 recharge loan service to their users. Recharge Loans can be used by a user for all the services offered by True Balance. A user can make easy payments of electricity bills, mobile and DTH recharges with a nominal interest rate in three installments valid for 20 days.

True Balance has partnered with Happy Loans, a Mumbai based NBFC which offers digital lending and provides service that aims to quickly connect customers with lending partners that offer loans that may work for them.

"India is a potential market for the fintech industry waiting to be tapped with around 1 billion unbanked people yet to be brought under the umbrella of financial inclusion. All our services are meant to empower Indians beyond just the metros and create greater financial inclusion. Since launch, True Paylater has clocked 1Mn transactions. We are sure with the introduction of Recharge Loan service; our transaction numbers would increase and provide our users a choice of lending options. We have grown over the last two years with a total of 95 mn transactions worth 700 crores (USD 100Mn) and we will continue to strengthen our services with a focus on bringing financial inclusion to everyone’s doorstep”, said Charlie Lee, Founder of True Balance.

While True Balance started off as a balance check application, the brand has evolved its model to move into financial services for that section of economy who need money for living. As part of the future strategy, True Balance is focused to provide financial products and services suiting their needs like Insurance, handset loan, etc. The brand’s last financial product ‘True Pay Later’ credit service received phenomenal response from the customers with 1Mn transactions in just three months. Recharge Loans is also a new service from the brand to continue its effort to enable users to fulfil their daily requirements without the pressure of paying the amount in one go.

True Balance has developed its own unique alternate credit scoring system. Our Alternate Credit scoring system methodology backed by Data science and machine learning is helping us to address the genuine borrowers. Our vision is to bring innovative loan products to the people who need it the most in the rural areas. We want to give our customers a choice of loan products and build a one to one relationship with them”, said Anil Gupta, General Manager, Digital Lending Business.

The Recharge Loan service will help ease out the cash flow of users. True balance has also raised an amount of financing from India’s largest private bank as a part of series B2 fundraising round which concluded on 2018 March. The funds raised will be used by True Balance to further expand its services across areas including loans, insurance and UPI. True Balance is also holding IR sessions for Series C by end of October 2019 and the raised funds will be further utilised for aggressive service development and enhancement, marketing and talent acquisition.

In 2014, the mobile application True balance was launched by Mr. Cheolwon Lee (Charlie Lee), an alumnus of the University of Chicago to empower the next billion and to enable seamless mobile bill recharges, utility bill payment, True Pay Later which has garnered more than 70 million downloads so far. True balance is ‘One Stop Payment “solution for all utility bill payments and foresees to provide small loans for these services to its users.

True Balance is aiming to serve India 2 and 3 with utility payment and providing financial platform for all. True Balance is aligned with the mission of digital India and focus on providing the rural population an experience for easy and safe utility bill management and payments through use of mobile technology.

True Balance's 1-Month Old 'True PayLater' Service Clocks Half a Million Transactions Within 2 Months

True Balance, the fintech app having 70 million downloads, which introduced its new digital credit service ‘True PayLater’ last month for its users, has gained quick momentum among its consumers and has received half a million transactions within two months.

“True Balance is a financial platform for the next billion unbanked users who are predominantly feature-phone users and mobile users who do not have access to digital payment. We are happy to know that we are achieving what we set out to do to create greater financial inclusion in India. The fact that the ‘True Pay Later’ service has been well received by our target consumers validates our belief that we are in the right place to cater to this huge potential untapped market,” said Mr. Charlie Lee, Founder, True Balance.

Launched in March the first of its kind service, ‘True Pay Later’ is focused at unbanked users who has strong demand for instant credit service. This unique service not only allows our users to avail small amount of money under 1000 INR as “money for living” but also allows all True Balance services such as the one-tap payment of electricity bills, mobile and DTH recharges with the option of payment with 14 days credit period. The service has received a phenomenal response from consumers because it provides them flexible payment period as per their needs. True Balance works on an internal, alternative credit scoring system to validate the credibility of its customers for credit service repayment.



This paperless, digital service is particularly beneficial for Tier II/III users who want to buy services/products if they are unable to pay the whole amount at once. To avail the ‘True Pay Later’ service, True Balance users can avail ‘True Pay Later’ plans as per their respective credit limits. They will have to pay a nominal service fee upfront and the balance principal amount within a period of 14 days interest-free credit.

The service already matches the transactions record of digitally forward countries like South Korea which witnessed 12,000 digital credit transactions per day in 2018, itself. This clearly makes India a potential growth market for fin-tech firms like True Balance.

True balance was launched as a mobile app in 2014 in Korea by Mr. Cheolwon Lee (Charlie Lee), an alumnus of the University of Chicago. In 2016, True Balance was founded in India to empower the next billion and to enable seamless mobile bill recharges; which has garnered more than 70 million downloads so far. True balance is ‘One Stop Payment “solution for all utility bill payments and foresees to provide small loans for these services to its users.

True Balance is aiming to serve India 2 and 3 with utility payment and providing financial platform for all. True Balance is aligned with the mission of digital India and focus on providing the rural population an experience for easy and safe utility bill management and payments through use of mobile technology.

True Balance offering UPI Service as a New Payment method to Users in Collab with PayU India

Taking India one step closer to become a cashless economy, TrueBalance, Softbank-backed balance and data management mobile app has tied up with PayU to connect customers and merchants by enabling seamless payments through a digital platform. 

TrueBalanceis on the verge of expanding its business by way of providing e-commerce platform enabling customers to have the benefits of EMI on payment, insurance, and purchase of products.

UPI
launched in India in 2016, allows bank-account holders to transact
using their smartphones by just feeding in their Aadhaar numbers or
mobile phone numbers instead of entering bank account details. PayU is a
Netherlands-based fintech company providing a safe payment technology
to online merchants. This True Balance-PayU tie-up strengthens the Digital India initiative through TrueBalance’s vision of targeting the untapped one billion mobile phone users without access to digital financial services.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Charlie Lee, CEO, True Balance said, “Foreseeing the announcement of the launch of 1 lakh Digital Village in India during the budget, UPI will play a key role in empowering the next Billion. We have recently launched our KYC compliance for customers, and I am extremely delighted to introduce our new fintech service in India in collaboration with PayU India.”

All True Balance app
users will be able to make safe and seamless payments of all the
existing products and utility bill payments using the UPI platform.

Further elaborating on the partnership with True Balance, Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer, Enterprise Business, PayU India, said,
“UPI clocked whooping 672 million transactions till last month. This
clearly indicates that UPI has changed the way people look at money. We
can see the paradigm shift in consumer behavior, moving towards digital
payment alternatives than cash-based transactions. Our partnership with True Balance will also open new opportunities for people in tier 2/3 regions and help them quickly stride on the UPI wave,”

In 2014, the mobile application True balance was launched in Korea by Mr. Cheolwon Lee (Charlie Lee), an alumnus of the University of Chicago. In 2016, True Balance was founded in India to empower the next billion and to enable seamless mobile bill recharges; which has garnered more than 70 million downloads so far. True balance is ‘One Stop Payment “solution for all utility bill payments and foresees to provide small loans for these services to its users.

In March 2016, True Balance raised an undisclosed amount from SoftBank Ventures Korea .

True Balance is aiming to serve India 2 and 3 with utility payment and providing financial platform for all. True Balance is
aligned with the mission of digital India and focus on providing the
rural population an experience for easy and safe utility bill management
and payments through use of mobile technology.

SoftBank Ventures Korea Invests in Indian Mobile Balance Checking App True Balance

SoftBank Ventures Korea has made an investment of an undisclosed amount in True Balance, one of India’s integrated, one touch prepaid mobile balance manager app. This announcement follows True Balance’s recent announcement of registering more than 25 lakh downloads within 17 months since establishment.

The funds from SoftBank Ventures Korea, will help True Balance accelerate its expansion plans along side enhancing its product advantage.

Launched in September 2014 by seasoned entrepreneur Charlie (Cheolwon) Lee, Gurgaon-based True Balance provides balance check, call log, data pack assessment, and recharge service for prepaid Android smartphone users. With its capability to use Big Data to give real-time information on better plans and offers, the app also helps earn and recharge balance.

This investment comes as part of True Balance’s Series A funding followed by last year’s seed funding from Korean VC, Bon Angels partners and Mega Investment.

Charlie Lee, founder of True Balance said, “Our journey to be a “must have application for all 200 million smartphone users in India” has just begun. With SoftBank Ventures Korea team’s commitment to the rising Indian startup, we are more than confident to provide simple and hassle free balance managing service to all Indian users.”

He added, “Our goal in the long run is to enable people around the world to communicate freely with their loved ones without any stoppage. True Balance app is the first step towards our vision, which has been developed for prepaid users who relatively pay more for using data networks. This year our focus will be to continue providing the market with the best of our products. We have already crossed the 2 million downloads mark this March and looking to achieve a new milestone of 10M downloads in the next 9 months.”

SoftBank Ventures Korea Invests in Indian Mobile Balance Checking App True Balance

SoftBank Ventures Korea has made an investment of an undisclosed amount in True Balance, one of India’s integrated, one touch prepaid mobile balance manager app. This announcement follows True Balance’s recent announcement of registering more than 25 lakh downloads within 17 months since establishment.

The funds from SoftBank Ventures Korea, will help True Balance accelerate its expansion plans along side enhancing its product advantage.

Launched in September 2014 by seasoned entrepreneur Charlie (Cheolwon) Lee, Gurgaon-based True Balance provides balance check, call log, data pack assessment, and recharge service for prepaid Android smartphone users. With its capability to use Big Data to give real-time information on better plans and offers, the app also helps earn and recharge balance.

This investment comes as part of True Balance’s Series A funding followed by last year’s seed funding from Korean VC, Bon Angels partners and Mega Investment.

Charlie Lee, founder of True Balance said, “Our journey to be a “must have application for all 200 million smartphone users in India” has just begun. With SoftBank Ventures Korea team’s commitment to the rising Indian startup, we are more than confident to provide simple and hassle free balance managing service to all Indian users.”

He added, “Our goal in the long run is to enable people around the world to communicate freely with their loved ones without any stoppage. True Balance app is the first step towards our vision, which has been developed for prepaid users who relatively pay more for using data networks. This year our focus will be to continue providing the market with the best of our products. We have already crossed the 2 million downloads mark this March and looking to achieve a new milestone of 10M downloads in the next 9 months.”