Signzy is an India-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider that offers digital onboarding solutions for banks and financial institutions. Founded in 2015, Signzy has raised more than $38M, including a $25M Series B round in 2022 led by Gaja Capital with participation from Vertex Ventures and Arkam Ventures.

Having established its foothold in India—with the country’s four largest banks as clients—the company is now expanding into the US.

In an interview with The Financial Revolutionist, Signzy’s Co-Founder, Ankit Ratan, as well as its Marketing Director, Ryan Stack, dive into the content of and channels for Signzy’s redoubled marketing efforts. Treating India- and US-based sales as “their own babies,” Ratan and Stack still allow cross-pollination between market-specific teams to develop innovative marketing and sales strategies.

Through these efforts, they hope to “close the year on a high.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Financial Revolutionist: Signzy isn’t BaaS specifically as much as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, but that’s obviously a precondition for banks of a certain size being able to offer BaaS services. 

Ankit Ratan, Co-Founder: There have been a lot of hiccups in India in past partnerships between banks and fintechs in terms of compliance. When banks were audited, they couldn’t find the documents of some customers who were onboarded by their fintech partners. So banks are now creating identity infrastructure first, and then offering services as a BaaS. 

Were those audits by the Reserve Bank of India?

AR: Yes.

With that in mind, and since you’re a startup yourself, how are you then marketing to banks in India? How do you differentiate your own operational practices from those of fintech partners they’ve worked with previously that fell through on the compliance front?

AR: One of our co-founders is a lawyer; the way we've always marketed ourselves is that we are not just a technology company, but a technology company that understands law and compliance. We’re both compliant and innovative. So there has been a level of trust in the fact that when Singzy says something, they do it. Unlike the fintechs who make money as long as the people have loans, we make money for storing the data. So there’s also the financial incentive to be compliant.

Also, while the core product is technical, when banks are able to sort out the problem of onboarding, even smaller organizations are able to actually open up BaaS offerings. It seems unlikely at first glance, but they don't need a very large team to manage it if they're able to get a good product for the infrastructure part.

When you sell Signzy’s solutions to a bank, do you emphasize that they can move into BaaS as a core product offering?

AR: Absolutely. There are value advantages. One is size: it allows you to move to the embedded finance world faster and automate your digital journeys faster. Embedding as much AI as you can makes your product acquisitions real-time. Figuring out a way to embed into customer journeys across needs—groceries, travel, homeownership, education—further helps address the macro problems solved by banks.

To what extent does Signzy’s branding differ in India versus the US?

AR: Unlike many other industry segments where the US has been ahead of the market, this seems to be one segment where it’s not—or at least not ahead of India. With a lot of government infrastructure, the Indian fintech experience is at least three or four years ahead of the US fintech experience. In terms of branding, we’re emphasizing that, without changing too much, you can add a layer on top that will make you like a modern fintech while remaining very compliant. Our messaging is about fitting in a puzzle piece, versus trying to say that we’re a completely new solution that will change your trajectory.

Ryan Stack, Marketing Director: In India, because the market is so far ahead, everyone has already bought into these factors, whereas the US is kind of all over the place. Big banks understand the need for digital onboarding and are doing all of it in-house. Smaller players may not even understand why digital account opening is important. For them, trying to help them understand where the market is going is important. So you have very different messaging depending on whom you're talking to. 

Are events a big part of your marketing and sales push?

RS: That's our initial jumping off point right now. Events are the best place to cast a wider net, but we’ll be specializing in specific regions based on who can utilize the our product the best and who has the greatest need.

What are those geographies?

RS: California and New York are no-brainers as huge population centers and financial hubs. But we’re also looking at Florida, Texas, and possibly the Pacific Northwest. We looked at places with a lot of activity going on and also places where fraud is a problem—which we help enable banks to reduce proactively.

And what marketing and sales channels were most successful in India?

AR: It’s a super interesting question because the banking population size is arguably equivalent in India to that in the US. But 90% of financial activities are centered around Mumbai Bangalore. So our sales efforts have been very on-the-ground and physical. Events were part of it, but the majority was meeting people through connections. 

In the US, the number of financial institutions is very large, while four big banks in India constitute 70% of every product volume. And then there’s geographic spread. It's very much possible that banks that are popular on the East Coast may be totally unknown on the West Coast. We’re seeing digital channels work powerfully in the US because it shows to parties across the geographic spread.

We never had to use email and LinkedIn as channels in India. It's a very, very important part of what we are doing here. People might not know us personally, but they’ll stop by and see us at a booth and start talking to us. We never had to do that in India.

Are you treating marketing for the US and India as separate operations?

AR: It would be unwise to avoid using the advantages of one for the other. We’re realizing that the marketing we’re setting up for the US makes sense for India also. We never used LinkedIn in India, but now we’re going to use it there. 

We’re treating both geographies as their own babies. India is grown up in a way, while the US needs that nurturing and tinkering and quick decision-making. I was joking with Ryan at one of the events we went to that it was the first time I’d put up a banner myself in years. We’re treating it like an early-stage startup.

What are your goals by the end of 2023 in terms of expanding Signzy’s footprint in the US?

AR: We’re at roughly $1.5M ARR in the US. Our goal is to triple that. Of course, that's an aggressive goal, but with the resources and in-person meetings we have now, we’ve already been growing at a healthy clip and it’s something we can achieve. We’re also building a strong sales team in the US. We’re looking to close the year on a high.