Sequoia-backed fintech Aspora will let Indian diaspora pay bills back home

Aspora, a fintech platform supported by Sequoia, is revolutionizing how the Indian diaspora manages finances back home by introducing a new feature that allows users to pay bills directly. This innovative service is designed to assist Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in covering utility bills and recharging mobile plans for their families in India. Previously, NRIs faced challenges in settling bills, often resorting to transferring funds to Indian accounts or relying on friends and family to handle payments. The alternative methods, which involved using foreign cards, frequently led to high fees and payment failures. Aspora has integrated with the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) through Yes Bank’s domestic infrastructure, enabling users to pay over 22,000 billers across India, including major utility providers and banks. The startup is currently offering this service without any transaction fees, providing users with favorable exchange rates for bill payments directly in foreign currency. Aspora's founder and CEO, Parth Garg, highlighted the historical complexities NRIs faced in paying bills, stating that this new feature simplifies the process significantly. While Garg acknowledged that the ability to pay bills might slightly decrease remittance volumes by about 4% to 5%, he emphasized that it would enhance user engagement on the platform. The introduction of this bill payment feature is expected to increase user interaction, as it transforms the app into a more frequent destination for transactions. After testing the feature with a select group of users, Aspora reported positive feedback and noted that mobile recharges emerged as a significant use case. Due to certain limitations in BBPS regarding mobile recharges and credit card payments for international users, Aspora has partnered with the global mobile recharge company Ding to facilitate these transactions. Currently, this feature is available for customers in the UK, with plans for expansion into the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) soon. In June, Aspora successfully raised $50 million in Series B funding, reaching a valuation of $500 million, with participation from notable investors including Greylock, Hummingbird, Quantum Light Ventures, and Y Combinator. To date, Aspora has accumulated over $99 million in funding and has expanded its services to NRIs in the U.S., which represents a significant portion of India's inward remittance market. With a growing customer base of 800,000 and transactions totaling $4 billion, Aspora has saved its users approximately $25 million in transfer fees. The company is also planning to introduce Non-Resident External (NRE) accounts for managing foreign income and Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts for managing income earned in India by next year.