Founded in 2021, by Harsh Chhatrapati and Arun Iyer, Galgal Money is a new-age Mumbai-based Fintech start-up that focuses on bringing efficient banking solutions to the youth, with the purpose to simplify money management and make savings as stress-free as possible. 

Galgal Money has raised USD 1 million from angel investors. The funds have enabled the startup to launch the app at a rapid time-to-market pace and accelerate customer acquisition. Besides, the firm intends to invest in product development to rapidly enhance customer experience and focus on offering features that can enhance the neo-banking experience for the youth in India.

Through its AI system, the Galgal app is built to notify users when they overspend or underspend. This is based on the understanding efficient money management behaviour is developed like any habit on the basis of reward and punishment. The user has the option to feel good, or guilty about an expense, in order to be more mindful the next time they choose to spend.

Harsh Chhatrapati, Founder, Galgal, explains his motivation behind developing Galgal, “While pursuing my education at Imperial College London, I found myself facing an issue that most students in this day and age face, Money Management. With stipulated pocket money and plethora of potential expenses, we young adults end up getting frustrated when we see a massive difference between what we want to save and can actually achieve. This led me to want to build a feel-good solution that will change banking for the youth in India, and simplify money management for all. Inspired by the Indian lemon, Galgal’s mission is to help users ‘squeeze the most out of their money.”

Co-Founder, Arun Iyer, puts his thoughts across, “We saw great opportunity in this problem. Presently, Gen z makes up 375 million, which is over 25% of India’s population, whether they are students, 1st jobbers, fresh out of college, or hustlers.”

On the functionality of Galgal app, Arun Iyer explains, “As soon as money is deposited in the Galgal account, the Galgal app allows users to create a budget that dynamically computes the guilt-free balance. The Galgal analytics engine automatically categorises the user’s spending pattern. Based on this the user is periodically nudged to ensure they are always in control of their finances. This creates a hyper-personalized experience, making financial management easily accessible. The app automatically categorizes the expenses, and every time a user spends money on non-essentials, it asks them whether they felt good or bad about the spend.  This makes the entire experience fun, simple and educational.”

Galgal offers an attractive visa prepaid card without charging a credit fee or any other hidden charges, unlike most of the other players in the market. Just at the beta stage of the product, the company generated a waitlist of more than 5,000 people through its website. The app is now live and available on both Android and Apple devices.