Tide and WE Hub Launch ‘Sarthika’ to Operationalise Government Schemes for Women MSMEs

Aims to bridge the information and last mile delivery gap in public schemes and initiatives

Targets ease of doing business for 500,000 women entrepreneurs across India by 2027

Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform, that recently launched in India, and WE Hub, Telangana’s state-led incubator for women entrepreneurs have launched the ‘Sarthika’ programme, to bridge the information and last mile delivery gaps in state and central government schemes for women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Through this initiative, Tide aims to reach women entrepreneurs across India and enhance the ease of doing business by improving access to information and uptake of public schemes and initiatives.

The Sarthika web portal (https://www.tide.co/en-in/wehub-tide/) will work with the cohort at the grassroots level to help them navigate through the application process, eligibility criteria, and other important aspects of the schemes. After the completion of full KYC process, Tide India and WE Hub will work with relevant government departments to quicken operationalisation of the schemes.

The programme’s first phase consists of three schemes

1. Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): The scheme focuses on credit subsidy for self-employment.
2. Raw Material Assistance Scheme: This scheme offers access to higher quality raw materials.
3. Barcode Registration Subsidy: This scheme enables businesses to conform to global standards of trade and commerce.

The Government of India has rolled out a series of measures to boost growth and opportunities for women in business. However, lack of information about eligibility and availability of schemes, poor allocation of resources, and complex processes have led to weak demand from the people these schemes could best serve.

The Sarthika programme comes at a time when W20, under India’s G20 presidency, is focused on realising the vision of women-led development, with women as active change agents of India’s growth story rather than passive recipients of development. The W20 is an official G20 engagement group focused on gender equity.

WE Hub CEO, Deepthi Ravula said, “Enabling access and opportunity for women to partake in the economic workforce of the nation is of pivotal importance to the growth of the nation. While there have been efforts to ease this process, awareness and handholding support is often amiss. In our collaboration with Tide, we are looking at addressing this problem statement and are positive that this will lead to a monumental change!”

This move also elevates Tide’s India Chapter of ‘Women in Business’ and the company’s plan to work as an incubator to digitally transform women-led SMEs beyond Tier 2 and 3 regions of India.

Kumar Shekhar, Deputy Country Manager, Tide India said, “As India presides over G20, there is an increased need to focus on the inclusion of women in finance and creating an enabling and non-discriminatory ecosystem. Last mile delivery of schemes and incentives is a common challenge faced by governments across the globe. While there is no magic bullet to bridge this gap, we are proud to launch a programme that will not just remove barriers to women-led development but help them realise their full potential.”

Earlier this year, Tide also conducted a mentorship programme for women entrepreneurs to decode the Union Budget 2023 and help them understand how new government policies, tax laws, and funding opportunities may affect their businesses.

About Tide:

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative and connected solutions. Tide has nearly 500,000 SME members in the UK (around 9% market share) and has recently launched in India.

Tide has been funded by Apax Digital, Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest, SBI Group and Tencent, amongst others. It employs 1250 professionals worldwide, was awarded the ‘New Market Entrant of the Year’ at the UK-India Awards 2022 and is among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to be the leading business financial platform globally.

Tide selected India as its first international market in 2020. With over 500 highly skilled employees in India, most based in its Hyderabad technology centre, Tide has launched two business financial solutions for SMEs in India – a Business Account and a RuPay-powered Expense Card and is working to introduce a host of other features to the Tide app in the next few months.

https://www.tide.co/en-in/

WE HUB is the first-of-its-kind and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs by the Government of Telangana. WE HUB supports women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas, solutions, and entities focusing on emerging areas in technology and allied sectors. WE HUB also supports under-explored/unexplored sectors, such as FMCG, retail, and e-commerce, including the service sector. The mandate and goal of WE HUB are to eliminate financial and societal barriers for women and help them succeed in their enterprises. WE HUB aims to create a supportive community for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas; and benefit from technical mentoring.

http://wehub.telangana.gov.in/

FinTech Platform Tide Partners With Transcorp to Roll-out RuPay Powered Expense Card

Plans to launch other Payment and Business services later this year

Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform that began setting up operations in India in 2020, today announced that it has partnered with Transcorp International Limited, a 27-year-old Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulated Authorised Dealer Category II and perpetual Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) license holder, to launch co-branded prepaid cards (Tide Expense Card) as an entry product. This roll-out stems from Tide’s expansion strategy in India, its first international market outside the UK, and a pillar of its global ambitions.

Tide will offer payment services to small businesses across India, starting with a Tide Business Account, accompanied by a Tide Expense Card. These Tide Expense Cards will be offered in partnership with Transcorp powered by RuPay. Other payment and business services will follow later this year. The partnership leverages the expertise of RuPay, India's indigenous payment network, the long-standing reputation of Transcorp, and Tide’s vast experience with SMEs in the UK, to help small businesses in India save time and money.

Commenting on the partnership, Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide, said, “Launching Tide’s business financial platform in India has been our priority since we announced our international expansion. We are excited to partner with Transcorp as we embark on the next stage of Tide’s journey, to serve the 64-million and growing SMEs in the Indian market. With Transcorp, we are ready to begin our initial product offering of Tide India, in order to build the best possible service to help SME owners save time and money.”

Users will be able to activate and manage their Tide Business Account and Tide Expense Card through the Tide app, which will also be used to load money, collect payments and check spends, amongst other services.

Kumar Shekhar, VP, Tide (India), said, “We, at Tide, wish to support entrepreneurs in their journey and believe we’re in a strong position to do exactly that. As we scale-up in India, we will expand our product offerings for small businesses who wish to take the big step of starting out in business – whether it’s as a contractor, freelancer, sole trader, or small business owner. Transcorp is a great partner for Tide, with a great reputation as an issuer for co-branded prepaid instruments. Transcorp has already demonstrated success with its partners and Tide is delighted to join this illustrious list.”

The needs of SMEs globally are largely universal, with time wasted on business and administrative tasks being a key issue. Tide exists to fix that problem. Tide has developed the right approach and a mix of services to meet the diverse needs of small businesses. In the next year, Tide plans to introduce a few more features like Business Savings/Current Account in partnership with a RBI-licensed bank, Fund Transfer, Invoicing, GST and Pay by link and Credit services, for its members.

“Transcorp is delighted to partner with Tide to enable digital payments and promote financial literacy amongst India’s largest business fraternity: SMEs. This segment is India’s economic backbone but remains financially underserved. With Tide, we aim to include them into the formal economy by delivering excellent products and exceptional service." said Ayan Agarwal, Vice President, Transcorp. “As India’s premier non-bank card issuer, Transcorp takes pride in enabling financial inclusion for Indian SMEs, and continuously strives to deliver success to its partners through the optimisation of stakeholder alignment."

Small businesses that are just starting out will find the business accounts helpful for their daily transactions and expenses. Being fully-digital, Tide’s Business account is not just hassle-free, but is secure and protects user privacy.

As the India platform is built out over the course of 2022, Tide plans to partner with a range of service providers from payroll providers to credit partners.

Finance Platform Tide to Incubate 5,00,000 Women-led Small Businesses in India by the End of 2027

Aims to support women in India to start and run their own businesses

Launch ‘Tide Women Entrepreneurs Mentorship Programme'

Create an internal Women in Business Mentor Panel for advisory services

Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform1, with operations and an imminent launch in India, today announced their target of supporting 500,000 female-led businesses, start out by the end of 2027.

This move comes on the heels of Tide’s ‘Women in Business’ initiative in the UK and the company’s plan to work as an incubator for women business owners in India. Through this initiative, Tide aims to help women led SMEs start and grow their businesses.

Today women run fewer than 13 percent of businesses in India. The primary reason for this low representation of women in business is access to finance. Nearly 20 percent of women entrepreneurs face rejection by lending institutions, more than twice the rate of 8 percent for men. Other key challenges that hold back women entrepreneurs include, absence of support networks and financial inclusion.

To further power the company’s vision for women entrepreneurs, Tide has also created an internal Women in Business Mentor Panel under their 'Tide Women Entrepreneurs Mentorship Programme'. The internal panel will feature in-house experts in Leadership, Marketing, Capital Investment, Hiring and Payroll, Taxation, and Legal, among others to provide one-on-one advice and host regular masterclasses, webinars, and AMA sessions for women entrepreneurs.

Gurjodhpal Singh CEO Tide IN

"Tide believes that there is a huge untapped potential for women entrepreneurs to contribute to the Indian economy. We want to support entrepreneurial women in their journey and believe we’re in a strong position to do exactly that. From the lessons learnt by working with small businesses every day in the UK, we understand the support and guidance needed to crack it as a small business owner. We believe this mentorship programme will not just prove instrumental in addressing their financial challenges but will also foster digital inclusion," says Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide (India).

The mentorship panel will also play an advisory role for women-led small businesses and support them with tracking progress and reporting issues.

Select Tide employees who will be part of this mentor panel have been chosen based on the specific domain knowledge they possess. The business financial platform also plans to partner with external mentors, who have or are working in the MSME space, to play an advisory role in the programme.

About Tide:

Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business financial platform in the UK. Tide helps SMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions. Tide has over 400,000 SME members in the UK (7% market share).

Tide has been funded by Apax Digital, Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest and The SBI Group. It employs 800+ professionals worldwide, has recently been awarded the UK Fintech Awards' ‘Banking Tech of the Year’ and is among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to be the leading business financial platform globally.

Tide selected India as its first international market in 2020. With over 350 highly skilled employees in India, most based in its Hyderabad technology centre, Tide is presently ramping up operations for a full-fledged launch in India later this year.

1 Tide is not a bank and does not hold or claim to hold a banking license.Tide is a business financial platform and the leading digital challenger in business banking services. We believe that a platform approach is the future of business banking, allowing us to offer both financial and admin services to SMEs, saving them time (and money) to allow them to focus on what they love: running their businesses. Tide Business Accounts are hosted and virtual debit cards are provided through our partner bank which is an RBI-licensed bank. Tide follows all security standards prescribed by the partner bank, in accordance with RBI regulations.

UK's Fintech Firm Tide Raises $100 Mn in Series C Funding Led by the Apax Digital Fund

Funding round oversubscribed and resulting in a valuation of over $650 million

Funding will support further investments in product and international expansion

India, 12 July 2021 – Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform,[1]today announced it has received just over $100 million in Series C funding, bringing the company’s total raised to date to $200 million. Tide is now valued at over $650 million post-money, after only four years of operation. The round was led by funds advised by Apax Digital, the growth equity team of Apax Partners. Anthemis, Augmentum, Jigsaw, Local Globe / Latitude, SBI, and SpeedInvest, existing investors, also participated in the round.

Tide has experienced rapid and sustained growth since launching in 2017, with 2020 seeing the business more than double its user base in the UK. With over 350,000 members, over 400,000 business accounts and a proposition ranging from business banking to payments and accounting software, Tide serves around 6% of UK businesses. Earlier this year, Tide announced that it was expanding into India, with a full launch of the platform planned for 2022.

The new funding puts Tide in a position to continue to develop their business financial platform, grow their market share, as well as expand globally. Tide, in partnership with ClearBank, has also been awarded a total of nearly $120 million in grants from the RBS Alternative Remedies Package.

Oliver Prill, Tide CEO said: “Partnering with Apax Digital validates Tide’s potential to continue our growth trajectory and gain traction in global markets. “Tide’s growth story to date has been hugely exciting, creating a diverse platform that serves small business owners, as well as generating significant market share. As we embark on taking Tide international, we couldn’t have a better set of investors to support us. We look forward to working with Apax Digital to realise our ambition of becoming a leading global business financial platform.”

Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital and Niccolò Ferragamo, Principal at Apax Digital said: “Small businesses are a key pillar of the economy. Yet, for years, they have been underserved by both financial services and software providers. Tide’s cutting-edge platform is empowering SMEs by providing frictionless, easy-to-use software for their financial needs. We are thrilled to partner with Oliver and the Tide team in their mission to simplify the lives of millions of small businesses globally.”

The investment remains subject to FCA approval. Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) served as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Tide on this transaction.

Tide, UK’s Leading Business Banking Fintech Picks India for Its 1st Overseas Foray

Gurjodhpal Singh, formerly a senior executive at PayU to lead Indian foray; test launch in first quarter of 2021 before wider roll-out later; Gurgaon to be commercial base

Tide, the UK’s leading business banking fintech has chosen India for its first overseas foray with a test launch slated for the first quarter of 2021, with a wider national roll-out later in 2021. Tide has already incorporated a local subsidiary for the launch with the India CEO & commercial team being based out of Gurgaon, and a second office in Hyderabad. 

Hyderabad is the site of Tide’s global development center with 100+ technology professionals already onboard. The teams in Hyderabad and Delhi NCR will grow rapidly to support the build of Tide India. The India business will be led by Gurjodhpal Singh, previously a senior executive at PayU, India’s leading PSP business. He will be supported by Tide CEO, Oliver Prill and CTO, Guy Duncan, who have both run international businesses with significant exposure to India. 

 
Announcing the India foray, Oliver Prill, Tide CEO said, “India, with 63 million SMEs is home to one tenth of all SMEs globally and the second largest start-up ecosystem worldwide with an entrepreneurial culture, it is also one of the hottest fintech hubs globally. The considerable commercial opportunities, and the fact that Tide’s management team has had extensive experience in the market, led us to choose India as the first port of call in our global expansion journey. 

"The basic needs of small businesses are universal and Tide’s agile structure means that the business financial platform can be adapted and integrated with local product service partners to suit the needs of businesses in any market. We will put to use the knowledge and expertise already gained to help underserved Indian MSMEs thrive. We are delighted to have Gurjodhpal Singh lead the business in India. His deep experience in serving Indian SMEs over many years will be vital," Prill added. 


Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017, London-based Tide is now the leading business banking challenger in the UK. Tide helps MSMEs save time (and money) in the running of their businesses by not only offering business accounts and related banking services, but also a comprehensive set of highly usable administrative solutions. It offers its members business banking without monthly, weekly or annual, or card usage fees. The only costs are for transfers from non-Tide accounts, ATM use and cash deposits. 

Tide recently launched Tide Cashback, an upgraded account giving members 0.5% cash back, additional support for running their businesses, including a dedicated 24/7 legal and phone helpline. Tide has almost 300,000 SME members and nearly 340,000 business accounts in the UK (almost 5% market share). Tide has raised over £100 million in investment from Anthemis, Augmentum, Creandum, Goodwater, Jigsaw, Latitude, LocalGlobe, Passion Capital, SpeedInvest and The SBI Group. It employs 300+ professionals worldwide, is LinkedIn’s top 10 hottest UK companies to work for and among the Sunday Times Fast Track Disruptors to Watch. Tide has a long-term ambition to operate in markets accounting for 25% of global SMEs. More information can be had from www.tide.co.