Have you had your
financial health checked-up?
G. Ram Mohan
Ever felt handicapped in choosing the best investment
avenue? Scared by the voluminous paper work that is to be done to file your tax
returns? Then www.investmentyogi.com is your best bet to navigate
through the maze of these problems and bail you out.
“I initially wanted to start a similar portal in the US. But after looking at the widespread financial illiteracy in the country on trips to India, we found that there is immense potential in India for a product like this,” said Ms Mamtha Banerjee, CEO, InvestmentYogi.com, speaking to AndhraBusiness.com.
“I initially wanted to start a similar portal in the US. But after looking at the widespread financial illiteracy in the country on trips to India, we found that there is immense potential in India for a product like this,” said Ms Mamtha Banerjee, CEO, InvestmentYogi.com, speaking to AndhraBusiness.com.
1. What
is the USP of Investment Yogi?
HNI’s (high net worth individuals) in the country are better informed and bank on bigger firms, while the middle class is left to fend for themselves. We hope to help middle class Indians make smart investment decisions. We wish to fill this void by making the middle class financial literate.
We made the first online financial planning software which can calculate and predict a persons monthly cash flow till they turn 85. We do a financial health check-up of the investor’s income, expenditure, investments and liabilities, know their financial goals like education, buying a house, car and recommend asset allocation depending on their targets and suggest on how much and where to save and invest?
While the software is free for use by individuals, financial advisers will get a more sophisticated version on the SaaS (Software as a service) model. They will be able to make a plan within 30 minutes to their customers.
We are planning to offer finanial advice on mutual funds and stocks also and extend to the full range of financial platform. All queries posed by our users are answered by both in-house and outside financial experts.
2. What is the revenue model of your website?
Our online tax filing software called www.taxyogi.com was free for use until last year. From this year, the service will be charged. The product launched last year was used by around 5,000 people and expect at least 20,000 people will use it as we are marketing it this year.
The financial planning software has already been used by 2,000 people. Some other websites also want their financial planning part to be powered by us and hope to sign four or five deals shortly. Content provision is also a source of income as our content is also published by rediff.
3. Tell us about your marketing strategies.
The company is using a combination of strategies like SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing). We are using social media like facebook, orkut and twitter. To help increase awareness about mutual funds we have posted online videos on you tube.
Our content is also being syndicated with others. Special packages are being offered to reach out to our core constituency, the corporate employees, through seminars on investments.
4. Are you planning to tie-up with any company? What is the scope for expansion of your business as you see it? Will it be organic or inorganic growth?
To scale up the business we initially want to take the organic growth route by piggybacking on a venture capitalist. There are lot of companies which are in the segments complimentary to us. For example there are sites which work exclusively on online insurance, online trading, mutual funds, stock, equity or others. A lot of collaboration can happen initially in the form of exchanging users leading to inorganic growth in some cases.
5. What is the market potential of your business?
The potential of this business has not been quantified. In five years, we hope to be earning $50 million in revenue.
6. What was the investment that went into establishing the company? Have you achieved breakeven?
We have invested close to half a million dollars so far and hope to achieve breakeven by the end of the year. Our current headcount is 10. Some of our functions like SEO and SEM are outsourced, while all the development on the site is done in-house. Our chief technology officer is based in Dallas and the financial planner is in California.
7. Which are the other countries you have investors routing their investments through your company?
We have people from 50 countries routing their investments through us.
8.Tell us about your online integrated platform for taxes, investments and budgeting. Have you launched the ‘Software as a service’ (SaaS) product that you had planned to launch?
The SaaS product is in the pilot stage. A few people in the field are using it and will be released in August after the tax season.
9. Who are your competitors in the market?
Indirectly, there are many competitors like moneycontrol.com, financial planners and banks which are trying to increase their fee based income selling insurance products.
10. Has the trend of filing tax returns online picked up? What has been the growth in percentage terms? Are they going to replace CA’s?
Around 45 lakh people filed their income tax returns online last year. In the last two years, there has been a 40 per cent growth in online tax filing. Only complicated tax returns will need CA’s. They make more money by auditing businesses.
Filing tax returns online is environmentally friendly, open 24/7, saves time for CA’s as they are busy and burdened as all flock to them at the same time.
11. How will simplification of tax norms affect this process?
As the process of filing tax returns is simplified more and more people will file them online. In the US 90 per cent of the market is served by turbotax.com. The regulations there are more stringent compared to our country.
12. Are you eyeing NRI customers?
We have content tailor-made for NRIs and can show them various investment options in India through partners. They can seek help in buying real estate also.
13. Tell us something about your background. What prompted you to start a portal like InvestmentYogi?
I went to US for my masters in the University of Illinois and then worked in Chicago for a software company. Then joined Travelocity.com and worked for 10 years, which ranks number one in that segment. After this, I did an executive management programme at the University of Washington.
Initially, I thought of doing something like this in the US but on one of the trips to India foreigners advised us to do it in India-the new land of opportunities. I met a lot of financial advisers and sought suggestions but felt they were not complete.
At the same time, I observed in discussions with cousins that everybody seems to know about stocks but drew a blank when it comes to mutual funds. People tend to see insurance as an investment option and take policies on a non-working member of the family instead of the breadwinner.
As part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility), we want to promote financial literacy among the low-income groups in the next two to five years. We are based in the IIIT campus here as their Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is helping start-ups like us grow as part of their incubation programme.
HNI’s (high net worth individuals) in the country are better informed and bank on bigger firms, while the middle class is left to fend for themselves. We hope to help middle class Indians make smart investment decisions. We wish to fill this void by making the middle class financial literate.
We made the first online financial planning software which can calculate and predict a persons monthly cash flow till they turn 85. We do a financial health check-up of the investor’s income, expenditure, investments and liabilities, know their financial goals like education, buying a house, car and recommend asset allocation depending on their targets and suggest on how much and where to save and invest?
While the software is free for use by individuals, financial advisers will get a more sophisticated version on the SaaS (Software as a service) model. They will be able to make a plan within 30 minutes to their customers.
We are planning to offer finanial advice on mutual funds and stocks also and extend to the full range of financial platform. All queries posed by our users are answered by both in-house and outside financial experts.
2. What is the revenue model of your website?
Our online tax filing software called www.taxyogi.com was free for use until last year. From this year, the service will be charged. The product launched last year was used by around 5,000 people and expect at least 20,000 people will use it as we are marketing it this year.
The financial planning software has already been used by 2,000 people. Some other websites also want their financial planning part to be powered by us and hope to sign four or five deals shortly. Content provision is also a source of income as our content is also published by rediff.
3. Tell us about your marketing strategies.
The company is using a combination of strategies like SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing). We are using social media like facebook, orkut and twitter. To help increase awareness about mutual funds we have posted online videos on you tube.
Our content is also being syndicated with others. Special packages are being offered to reach out to our core constituency, the corporate employees, through seminars on investments.
4. Are you planning to tie-up with any company? What is the scope for expansion of your business as you see it? Will it be organic or inorganic growth?
To scale up the business we initially want to take the organic growth route by piggybacking on a venture capitalist. There are lot of companies which are in the segments complimentary to us. For example there are sites which work exclusively on online insurance, online trading, mutual funds, stock, equity or others. A lot of collaboration can happen initially in the form of exchanging users leading to inorganic growth in some cases.
5. What is the market potential of your business?
The potential of this business has not been quantified. In five years, we hope to be earning $50 million in revenue.
6. What was the investment that went into establishing the company? Have you achieved breakeven?
We have invested close to half a million dollars so far and hope to achieve breakeven by the end of the year. Our current headcount is 10. Some of our functions like SEO and SEM are outsourced, while all the development on the site is done in-house. Our chief technology officer is based in Dallas and the financial planner is in California.
7. Which are the other countries you have investors routing their investments through your company?
We have people from 50 countries routing their investments through us.
8.Tell us about your online integrated platform for taxes, investments and budgeting. Have you launched the ‘Software as a service’ (SaaS) product that you had planned to launch?
The SaaS product is in the pilot stage. A few people in the field are using it and will be released in August after the tax season.
9. Who are your competitors in the market?
Indirectly, there are many competitors like moneycontrol.com, financial planners and banks which are trying to increase their fee based income selling insurance products.
10. Has the trend of filing tax returns online picked up? What has been the growth in percentage terms? Are they going to replace CA’s?
Around 45 lakh people filed their income tax returns online last year. In the last two years, there has been a 40 per cent growth in online tax filing. Only complicated tax returns will need CA’s. They make more money by auditing businesses.
Filing tax returns online is environmentally friendly, open 24/7, saves time for CA’s as they are busy and burdened as all flock to them at the same time.
11. How will simplification of tax norms affect this process?
As the process of filing tax returns is simplified more and more people will file them online. In the US 90 per cent of the market is served by turbotax.com. The regulations there are more stringent compared to our country.
12. Are you eyeing NRI customers?
We have content tailor-made for NRIs and can show them various investment options in India through partners. They can seek help in buying real estate also.
13. Tell us something about your background. What prompted you to start a portal like InvestmentYogi?
I went to US for my masters in the University of Illinois and then worked in Chicago for a software company. Then joined Travelocity.com and worked for 10 years, which ranks number one in that segment. After this, I did an executive management programme at the University of Washington.
Initially, I thought of doing something like this in the US but on one of the trips to India foreigners advised us to do it in India-the new land of opportunities. I met a lot of financial advisers and sought suggestions but felt they were not complete.
At the same time, I observed in discussions with cousins that everybody seems to know about stocks but drew a blank when it comes to mutual funds. People tend to see insurance as an investment option and take policies on a non-working member of the family instead of the breadwinner.
As part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility), we want to promote financial literacy among the low-income groups in the next two to five years. We are based in the IIIT campus here as their Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is helping start-ups like us grow as part of their incubation programme.
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