Airbnb inspiredSlice's founder Rajan Bajaj to start his own business

• 8
• 0

Rajan Bajaj founded Bengaluru-based finance business Slice (previously SlicePay) six years ago. Rajan began his entrepreneurial career in his early twenties with Mesh Internet, which he founded in 2015. He later established Slice in 2016 to alleviate new-age customers' financial concerns when it comes to payments and credit. Slice is a prepaid card with a credit line attached to it. 

 

Based in Bengaluru, is targeting millennials and Gen Z, and that the company's mission is to provide a best-in-class experience to its users. The startup currently has over 4 million users and plans to grow 10 times in the next several years. The pivotal moment Rajan claims he developed a penchant for startups during his time at IIT Kharagpur. He recalls thinking about dropping out of his second year of engineering and launching a firm in the shared economy market in India since he admired Airbnb so much. 

 

Rajan, on the other hand, secured a job at Flipkart following graduation, where he was a member of the product team and worked on payments. He felt compelled to work on his shared economy concept after around 10-11 months. For two to three months, it was a furniture business, after which it moved on to car-bike rental, peer-to-peer gaming console, bicycle, and camera sharing. He worked on many ideas based on the shared economy with his 20-member team, but they realized they were too early in the sharing economy and that it was not the best time. 

He eventually shut down the company and founded Slicepay, now Slice, as a 'buy, pay later (BNPL) platform, but the first three years were difficult.

Banks and creditors didn't trust him, so comprehending regulations, as well as the business and operations, became difficult. After years of effort, Slice finally released a physical card in May of this year, marking a watershed moment in his career. In May 2019, the company switched from the BNPL platform to the current model and launched a physical card. After that, there was no turning back. 

 

Gunosy Capital, Das Capital, Finup, Simile Venture Partner, EMVC, Blume Ventures India, Tracxn Labs, Better Capital, Sachin Bansal's Navi, and angel investors like Kunal Shah have funded the firm, which today employs 600 employees. They recognized product-market fit early on. Almost 75-80% of our customers were referred to us through word of mouth. They've been concentrating on improving the product experience, and we've noticed a significant increase in growth since then. 

Slice claims to have over four million registered users with an average age of 27 since its pivot in May 2019.

If you enjoyed reading this article and wish to support us by making a contribution or a small donation click on Razor Pay IIB Donation