BigDecisions.in, launched by Mumbai-based firm Findirect Services, is likely to raise Rs 2 crore by the end of this quarter. It's their first institutional funding. At present, the one-year old company is self-funded. Till now, the promoters have put in Rs 25-30 lakh.
The promoters--Manish Shah, an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and Gaurav Roy, alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur--are in discussions with several early stage investors.
“We need the funds for marketing spends, to better the present product offerings and to expand the team. Next year we would require a higher amount,” said Manish Shah, co-founder and CEO of Findirect Services.
BigDecisions.in is an advisory website that has tools that help customers make financial decision in the areas of retirement planning, children's education planning, home buying, life and health insurance. Neither does the platform charge a visitor nor does it mandate him / her to register to be able to use its service.
While there are financial planners that help you do the same offline, Findirect Services is probably the first in the pure advisory space online. Personal finance websites like Perfios, Intuit help you with manage your investments, taxes, documents online. But these websites need registered users for money management. They help unregistered users only with tax filing.
The company aims to touch 50,000-100,000-visitor per month level. By end of this month it is likely to see 25,000 visitors. Shah says, “Since December BigDecisions.in has been getting 1,000 visitors a day, yesterday we touched the 2,000-visitors mark. We see 30%t of the repeat visitors.” Between October and December 2013, the company has seen 25,000 visitors.
The target audience for the company is someone who has no answers to questions like how much insurance is needed or whether to buy or rent a flat and so on.
For instance, say you want to know how much life insurance you need. You can click on life insurance on the website under the 'decision tools' option. It will ask you basic questions like you age, marital status, number of dependents and children, loan details and so on. Then, tell you how much insurance you should have for your family and to compensate for income loss when you die. Here, you also get an option to buy a product instantly or you could buy life insurance independently.
Currently, the company makes money from partners when visitors buy products from them. “We have ties-ups with PolicyBazaar and FundsIndia, who pay us if any of our visitors buy a product from them. This is our main source of revenue at present. We earn either a fixed percentage or on per registration basis,” says Shah.
Going forward, the company will also look at earning by providing data to manufacturers. “We won't need a visitor's name or contact details but pass on consumer requirements, which we will get to know through the details visitors give us,” he explains.
BigDecisions.in is looking to function both independently and with financial services companies. For instance, the company may also be embedded on banks' or insurance companies' or media houses' websites. But these plans are in the initial stage.
