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The fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008 led to a ripple effect in global financial systems, making many companies across the globe, including India, jittery when dealing with treasury operations abroad.

For TM Manjunath, S Sethuraman, and a few others, who previously worked at Vijaya Bank, the collapse presented a unique opportunity in treasury—they set out to build digital solutions for treasury management that mitigate operational risks and improve business efficiency.

IBSFINtechbegan its journey in 2006 as a retirement plan for the former bankers. The enterprise treasury-tech company caters to the end-to-end digitisation of cash flow, treasury, risk, trade finance and supply chain finance functions. It currently serves over 380 entities globally, including Vedanta Group, GAIL, Wipro Enterprises, Mahindra & Mahindra, and HCL. 

“The idea emerged during the subprime period, marked by global collapses in the banking and corporate sectors, as well as volatility in commodity and forex markets. There was a need for automation, especially in the corporate sector. And that’s how we decided to create a product to cater to the corporate sides of the treasury operations,” says Chandra Mohan Grover, MD and CEO, IBSFINtech. 

The market potential for treasury solutions is substantial as over 70% of global corporations depend on spreadsheets for treasury and trade finance management, according to Deloitte Global Treasury Survey 2022. 

Digitised solution 

IBSFINtech says multiple corporates and banks use its core technology platform, which bridges the gap between enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, core banking and financial services. It enables the CXOs and treasurers to improve control and visibility, mitigate operational risk, and drive automation. 

The platform also provides decision support systems to help customers manage risks and comply with statutory regulations. 

Grover recalls IBSFINtech’s first commercial client in 2013 was Bennet and Coleman Group. By 2017, Maruti Suzuki, the largest car maker in the country, chose the startup for its treasury transformation. IBSFINtech onboarded around 30 customers during this period. 

Like all startups, IBSFINtech had its share of growing pains, which included data from multiple sources, communication gap between treasury and other departments, and a lack of real-time information and connecting the system working in silos. 

“We made the decision to go with the approach to acquire the right clients to establish our credibility in the market, and establish a strong position against all the global biggies, including SAP. Convincing CFOs was a challenge, as selling software for managing treasury operations wasn’t an easy pitch in the early days. The question often arose: Why software? Why do I need it? We have Excel,” says Grover. 

Leveraging GenAI

IBSFINtech says it uses Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), analytics and Management Information Systems (MIS). The company offers both on-premise and web based SaaS TMS (Treasury Management Solution). 

The on-premise solution is for very large corporations globally who need a customised solution, hosted in their infrastructure (local or private cloud). 

“When bank connectivity was not even being talked about, we implemented integration with the bank and enabled a vendor bill discounting process for the then retail giant of India, Future Group in 2017. This implementation was made live with India’s second largest public sector and one of the largest private sector banks of the country,” says Grover. 

The company operates on two revenue models– a five-year licence term, and an annual recurring model. In the licence term, the company charges the product license, implementation fee, and a recurring annual maintenance fee. 

The way ahead

In 2021, the company raised $1 million in pre-series A round from a group of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs). The startup intends to raise a Series A round in the early FY 2023-24. 

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[Funding alert] IBSFINtech raises $1M from HNIs

Some of its competitors include Kyriba, ION, GTreasury, SAP-TRM. 

“We’ve achieved remarkable growth, growing 100% year-on-year since the last few years. Surpassing last year’s revenue, we’re now positioned with a robust pipeline for the current year,” he added.

The year 2023 was a good one for the startup; it was recognised as World’s most credible and renowned market research firm IDC as “Major Player” in the Worldwide SaaS and Cloud-Enabled Enterprise Treasury and Risk Management Applications 2023.

IBSFINtech has also put its global expansion plans in motion. 

Last November, it appointed Atul Punj as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the IBSFINtech USA to grow the company’s presence in the region. 

“Besides the USA, we have also set up an entity in the Middle East. We achieved higher reach in these markets, by partnering with Global giants like LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group, erstwhile Thomson Reuters), Oracle, Big 4s, and many global banks,” says Grover.