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Hello Readers, 

In rural India, finance for women is still restricted to self-help groups, many of which have disbanded over the years due to negligence and a lack of substantial efforts to engage women in microfinance.

To remedy that and engage women in finance, neobank BharatATM launched a programme in March, called ‘Bank Sakhi’ (sakhi means female friend).

What the startup does is essentially identify women in small towns and villages, partner with them, and onboard them on the BharatATM platform so they can start offering its services, such as withdrawal/deposits, bill payments, etc., from either their kirana stores, if they have one, or at people’s doorsteps.

So far, the company has enrolled around 11,230 women in the programme, across India. It piloted the project in Odisha, where it enrolled around 230 women in the programme.

But, why is BharatATM focussing on women?

Ram Shriram, CEO and Co-founder of Mahagram, the parent company of BharatATM, tells YourStory that even in households where men are sole earners, it’s women who handle most of the money in terms of expenditures related to grocery shopping and running the house. 

“We realised if we could enrol a few women and got them a savings account, they would help other women start their own accounts too,” Ram tells YourStory. 

Editor’s Pick: Digit Insurance’s rise to unicorn status 

Digit Insurance sold its first policy in late-2017. Four years later, it became not only the first unicorn of 2021 but also the first insurtech startup to achieve the coveted billion-dollar valuation. Founder Kamesh Goyal charts his and the startup’s growth journey. Read more. 

Startup Spotlight

Connecting influencers with brands

With digital media on the rise, influencers and content creators have become prominent with a large following on social media. However, with influencer marketing still in nascent stages, many brands find it difficult to find the right influencer.

To solve this, Chennai-based PickMyAd has created an influencer marketing platform where brands can book influencers to promote their business. Read more.

News & Updates

• Glance has forayed into the television segment as it aims to make Android smart TVs more interactive with two-way communication. This will be done through an interactive content platform for the home screen or screen zero of Android smart TVs.

• Just three days after announcing its India launch and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration, Coinbase has halted UPI transactions on its app. The move came after The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) refuted Coinbase’s claim of using UPI for crypto transactions.

Before you go, stay inspired with… 

“It doesn’t matter if the idea is novel or not, if there is market or not, if there is USP or not… if you are willing to learn and unlearn quickly, you will be successful even if the startup doesn’t succeed. And it will empower you and the people around you.”

– Priya Sharma, Founder, Learning Dino

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