Breaking down barriers in the digital payments landscape

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One of the great successes of India’s digital transformation has been the establishment of a unified payment interface for B2C transactions. It has brought hitherto-unknown levels of transparency and convenience to the country’s financial system, empowering consumers and businesses with its scale and simplicity. But the task of digitizing payment gateways remained incomplete in the absence of a similar interface for B2B payments. Sapphiro, a new age digital business payments and mobility solutions provider, was conceived to meet this unfulfilled need, creating an end-to-end payments ecosystem for businesses, and driving financial inclusion across geographies.

Launched by Souradeep Ganguly, MD and CEO, in 2020, Sapphiro was built around the promise of delivering services that ‘empower people and businesses to create a seamless experience’ in B2B payments. Sapphiro has thrived by forging canny growth integrations and collaborations, in association with IDFC FIRST Bank and its dedicated startup banking proposition, FIRST WINGS.[ES1]  Little wonder then, that Sapphiro has already achieved monthly transaction volumes of Rs.2500 crores in corporate payments in record time. Being a 100% bootstrapped startup also means Sapphiro has remained profitable since inception; an incredible record for a startup. Latest numbers reveal the company has seen a 2700% rise in its gross earnings in the year gone by.

Sapphiro’s success has been amplified by the quality of the product on offer. A robust, reliable and secure digital architecture has been deployed to combine and support the full operational capabilities of existing payment gateways like UPI, RTGS and NEFT, and offer businesses quick settlements and an effective tool for cash management, without limits on transaction amount or number of beneficiaries. It effectively centralizes all financial operations on one seamless platform, giving CFOs and accountants a concise overview of the company’s earnings and expenses.

The challenge now before Souradeep Ganguly and his team at Sapphiro is to chart out the next stage of growth. “The future depends on the specific goals we’ve outlined”, says Souradeep Ganguly, going on to detail a slew of growth initiatives. These include development of new digital products, exploring possibilities of entering new markets, and the launch of new marketing campaigns. As a trusted partner of the business, Souradeep Ganguly hopes IDFC FIRST Bank will continue to play a pivotal role in facilitating Sapphiro’s growth, through the provision of cutting-edge financial solutions, guidance from the bank’s innovation teams, and greater access to IDFC FIRST Bank’s vast network of business clients, which has allowed Sapphiro to tap into a wider market.

Even while he nurses such towering ambitions himself, Souradeep Ganguly’s advice to budding entrepreneurs is a lesson in focus and simplicity. He advocates research and transparency as cornerstones of proper growth planning, which allow startups to identify key areas of innovation and collaboration, thereby deriving the full benefits of their partnership with institutions like IDFC FIRST Bank. After all, it’s an association which offers a lot more than just loan options or credit support. It’s what Souradeep Ganguly alludes to as well, when he says, “Aim for a partnership that offers mutual benefits and supports your long-term growth strategy”.

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Moneycontrol journalists were not involved in the creation of the article.