Bengaluru-based fintech Rupeeflo targets 30 per cent of its revenue from GIFT City over the next year. CEO Dharmendra Maurya said, "We would like GIFT City to contribute close to 25-30 per cent of the revenue in the next year." The firm also plans to start a new payments business.
Rupeeflo, a Bengaluru-based fintech start-up building cross-border financial infrastructure for Indian financial institutions, wants GIFT City to contribute up to 30 per cent of its revenue over the next year, as it prepares to move beyond investor onboarding into payments.
The company, which currently derives less than 5 per cent of its revenue from GIFT City institutions, sees the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) as a key growth driver. The contribution could rise to 40 per cent if its payments business gains traction, Co-Founder and CEO Dharmendra Maurya told businessline during an interaction at GIFT City.
"Out of our total revenue, GIFT City institutions will be less than 5 per cent. The way we are growing our revenue, we would like GIFT City to contribute close to 25-30 per cent of the revenue in the next year. If the payment business also grows, the revenue pie could be as big as 40 per cent," Maurya said.
Recurring revenue
Founded in April 2024 by Maurya, Ashish Jha and Manav Bharambe, Rupeeflo began operations in December that year. The company reports an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of close to $1.5 million, or approximately ₹14 crore. Maurya said the company had doubled its revenue and investor base every quarter since December 2024. The next phase of growth will depend on whether it can monetise a broader range of services, from onboarding and compliance to payments and investment distribution.
Rupeeflo has received in-principle authorisation for a payment service provider (PSP) licence and plans to enter the payments business, Maurya said.
The proposed offering is intended to connect investor onboarding with the movement of money into GIFT City and India. Currently, once an overseas investor is onboarded by a fund management entity, an International Banking Unit or another financial institution, the investor is typically given banking details to transfer the funds.
Next step
Rupeeflo wants to integrate that next step into its own infrastructure. "Once the onboarding is completed through our stack, the next thing the investor will be able to do is move the money through the same rails built through our payment service provider licence," Maurya said.
The company believes this could give financial institutions a more integrated view of investor onboarding and payment compliance. It could also create a new revenue stream beyond its existing technology-assisted services. The proposed expansion, however, will depend on the applicable regulatory requirements, the scope of its authorisation and the adoption of its payment infrastructure by financial institutions.
The problem Rupeeflo is trying to solve begins well before an overseas investor makes the first investment. For an NRI in London seeking to open a demat account with an Indian bank or broker, the process can involve repeated exchanges with a relationship manager, document verification, notarisation and couriering paperwork to India. Differences in time zones can add further delays, while customers may have to navigate requirements around NRE and NRO accounts.
Digital platform
Maurya said account opening could traditionally take 15-30 days, while broking-related onboarding could take 30-45 days. Rupeeflo has built a digital platform that verifies investor identities, extracts information from documents and fills account-opening forms. It has also partnered with notary offices across more than 60 countries to facilitate electronic notarisation, based on the customer's jurisdiction. "Through us, the entire journey gets completed in 24 hours," Maurya said.
The company also facilitates digital signature certificates, which it says can be issued within around 30 minutes. The claimed turnaround times are dependent on the applicable process and individual onboarding requirements.
Rupeeflo initially focused on non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas citizens of India (OCIs) but has expanded into onboarding foreign nationals, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), foreign direct investors and corporate entities.
The US, UK and UAE account for about 60 per cent of traffic on its platforms, while the remainder comes from markets including Saudi Arabia, Germany, other European Union countries, Australia and Singapore, Maurya said.
NRIs and OCIs continue to account for roughly 90 per cent of customers. The company says it has facilitated more than 20,000 investors through its platform via institutional partnerships.
Rupeeflo's business model rests on three segments, according to Maurya. The first comprises technology-assisted services covering know-your-customer (KYC) checks, onboarding, identity verification and compliance.
The second is the proposed payments business. The third involves digital interfaces that allow intermediaries, including mutual fund distributors, to access products offered by GIFT City institutions.