An interview with Nikhil Kurhe CEO of Finarkein Analytics: A Pune based Data Analytics Company (Fintech Startup)
In an engaging interview with Nikhil Kurhe CEO of Finarkein Analytics, we explore the innovative landscape of data analytics within the fintech sector.
Based in Pune, his startup is revolutionizing how businesses leverage data to drive informed decision-making.
Nikhil share his entrepreneurial journey, insights on industry challenges, and the transformative potential of analytics in enhancing financial services.
Finarkein Analytics operates in a fast-evolving fintech landscape. Can you share what inspired you to start the company and the problem you aimed to solve in the industry?
The initial inspiration behind our journey was the need for a scalable personal finance management interface for every Indian. However, we quickly encountered a key challenge: gaining access to reliable financial data.
This led us to a broader problem statement: how can we solve this issue for ourselves and empower other companies to tackle similar challenges?
Our goal became ensuring seamless, structured, and scalable access to financial data across the Indian market, enabling a wide range of use cases and innovations in the space.
What makes Finarkein Analytics stand out in the fintech space, especially in terms of data analytics solutions? How do you differentiate yourselves from other companies in the market?
What sets Finarkein apart is the flexibility of our solutions and our ability to build custom workflows for customers in a highly cost-efficient manner.
We’ve learned that no two BFSI enterprises approach data in the same way; each has its own proprietary scores and unique methods of interpreting financial information.
Our differentiator is delivering the right solution in the right format at an optimal price point. This, combined with our speed in deploying new workflows, has been instrumental in helping us stand out in the market.
What types of data analytics services does Finarkein Analytics offer, and how do they cater to the specific needs of fintech companies?
In India, financial services organisations rely on financial data at various stages of a product’s lifecycle.
During customer acquisition and discovery, they need data to recommend the right financial products. As the product moves through approval and processing—whether it’s a credit card, home loan, or insurance policy—additional financial information, such as income details, existing insurance policies, or outstanding liabilities, may be required.
Even during servicing, whether it’s EMI repayments, insurance premium payments, or portfolio rebalancing, access to financial data remains crucial. Finarkein plays a key role in enabling fintech and BFSI companies to seamlessly access and interpret this data across the entire financial product lifecycle.
Our offerings are primarily application programming interface (API)-driven, with a consumption-based pricing model that allows businesses to scale efficiently while ensuring cost-effectiveness.
What are some of the major challenges Finarkein Analytics has faced in scaling its operations, especially in a competitive market like fintech? How did you overcome these challenges?
The fintech space is highly competitive, especially in the infrastructure category we operate in. While the barriers to entry are relatively low, scaling operations to a level where they are both sustainable and profitable is a significant challenge.
One of the biggest hurdles we faced early on was monetisation: how to price our products in an emerging category where no clear benchmarks existed. Customer acquisition was another challenge, as was ensuring long-term retention.
To navigate these, we shifted our focus away from what competitors were doing and instead prioritised on getting our pricing right. Delivering the best possible product experience became our core strategy.
On the customer acquisition front, rather than chasing rapid growth and spreading ourselves too thin, we took a more deliberate approach, which was scaling existing accounts to their full potential before aggressively pursuing new ones.
This counterintuitive strategy has set us apart. By onboarding large enterprise clients only when we were fully prepared to support their scale and requirements, we’ve been able to win over customers from competitors who couldn’t offer the same level of depth and service. This measured approach has been key to our success.
Nikhil, as CEO, how do you foster a culture of innovation and collaboration at Finarkein Analytics, particularly when it comes to the integration of complex data-driven solutions?
There are a few principles we always prioritise. First, given the sensitive and critical nature of the personal financial data we handle, it’s essential that everyone on our team is highly aware of the responsibility involved.
Even though we process data in real-time, purely in memory, we ensure our team fully understands the implications of what we’re building.
Our analytics and intelligence can determine eligibility for significant financial products like credit cards, loans, or insurance policies, and we must be mindful of the impact this can have on individuals.
When it comes to innovation and collaboration, we strike a balance by always keeping security and privacy at the forefront.
From a cultural perspective, we focus on hiring people with a strong sense of agency and ownership within their respective domains.
We prefer to bring in domain experts who are passionate about owning their verticals, rather than individuals who are simply looking to move things along.
Additionally, attention to detail is crucial, particularly in data engineering and orchestration. With so many moving parts at scale, ensuring every piece is accounted for is vital to maintain the integrity and accuracy of our work.
What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the fintech and data analytics space?
These two spaces, financial services and data analytics, are quite distinct, but to succeed, you need to merge the best of both worlds.
The Indian market, especially in financial services and fintech, is highly regulated, and regulations can change overnight, potentially turning a business model upside down.
We’ve seen this happen in various sectors like prepaid instruments, digital lending, and more. These verticals have faced significant regulatory changes in just the past few years.
For any entrepreneur looking to enter this field, it’s essential not only to understand the current regulatory environment but also to anticipate how it might evolve over the next few years.
On the data analytics side, innovation is happening at a rapid pace, particularly in AI. As large language models and similar technologies begin to shape the landscape, it’s important to consider how to differentiate your analytics offering and avoid the risk of commoditisation.
Building a long-term, sustainable business in both these areas is challenging. It requires a keen sense of timing, patience, and execution. My advice to those entering this space would be to stay focused on these key factors.
Nikhil Kurhe’s vision for Finarkein Analytics exemplifies the power of data in shaping the future of fintech.
His commitment to providing actionable insights not only empowers businesses but also fosters a culture of data-driven decision-making.
As he continue to navigate the evolving landscape, his experiences serve as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneur in the analytics domain, highlighting the importance of innovation and adaptability in achieving success.
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