{"id":12534,"date":"2022-03-15T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T06:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/?post_type=story&#038;p=12534"},"modified":"2022-03-17T12:55:50","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T07:25:50","slug":"how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"How fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana helped students avert a &#8216;PayCrunch&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>(March 15, 2022)<\/strong> Moving across the country for college, fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana, who, at 22 is the co-founder, PayCrunch, quite naturally revelled in his newfound freedom. But even unbridled independence, he found, was something of a mixed bag. Like his classmates, he would count every last rupee &#8211; a difficult call to make when popularity and status were so dependent on \u201cbeing seen\u201d at the right restaurants and making travel plans. Requests to parents for personal credit cards were inevitably met with a resounding \u201cno.\u201d And with no credit scores, borrowing money from mainstream channels wasn\u2019t possible either.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, my father wouldn\u2019t let me have a credit card,\u201d\u00a0Aman\u00a0smiles. Working out of Third Wave in Bengaluru as he spoke to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/story\/global-indian-exclusive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Global Indian<\/a>,\u00a0Aman looks every bit the entrepreneurial 20-something for which Bengaluru is now known. PayCrunch, his micro-finance startup for students has already raised $500,000 in funding from Y Combinator and plans for expansion are well underway.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_12536\" style=\"width: 597px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12536\" class=\"wp-image-12536 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-card.jpg\" alt=\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\" width=\"587\" height=\"525\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 587px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 587\/525;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12536\" class=\" wp-image-12536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-card.jpg\" alt=\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\" width=\"587\" height=\"525\" \/><\/noscript><p id=\"caption-attachment-12536\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aman Bhayana, co-founder, PayCrunch<\/p><\/div>\n<h4><strong>The need to ideate<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Growing up in Delhi in a family of businessmen, the fintech entrepreneur to-be seemed all set for a conventional career path, choosing to study at the prestigious Vellore Institute of Technology in Tamil Nadu. \u201cI was all set to become a coder,\u201d he smiles. \u201cIt didn&#8217;t take me long to realise that it wasn\u2019t for me. I love to write algorithms and design structures but I don\u2019t really enjoy coding. I did at first but I needed something more.\u201d His parents, Sunil Kumar and Poonam Bhayana, run two schools in Haryana \u2013 the Tagore Senior Secondary School and IPS Senior Secondary School \u2013 a legacy handed down to them by Aman\u2019s grandfather. \u201cMy grandfather has been a great inspiration to me,\u201d the young entrepreneur remarks, adding, \u201cHe took a loan to start the first school 70 years ago.\u201d Does he see himself in that line of business too? \u201cNot really. I want a career where I am learning something new all the time,\u201d Aman remarks.<\/p>\n<p>To Aman, finding his own path meant leaning into his strengths as a people person and the entrepreneurial acumen that had come to him quite early in life. \u201cEven in school, I was always eager to participate in events in whatever way I could,\u201d Aman says, adding, \u00a0\u201cIf I couldn\u2019t participate, I would anchor them.\u201d This meant taking part in everything from science Olympiads to dance competitions and being a part of various societies in college as well. \u201cIn college, I was part of many societies and clubs, I was usually the guy setting things up at an event,\u201d says the boy who draws energy from being around other people. \u201cYou gain a lot of knowledge and understanding by observing others. What do they talk about? What they are hearing, and understanding? Right now, we don&#8217;t understand each other. We need tools to do so and someone has to make those tools,\u201d says the fintech entrepreneur.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>When money matters<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>His experiences in college got\u00a0Aman\u00a0thinking. A part of various clubs in college, he even began a small travel-planning business for students. \u201cIf a student wanted to travel but had no money, we would ask them for their budget. That was all. We handled the rest,\u201d he adds. The experience gave him an understanding of the challenges faced by college students and look for solutions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12541 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"499\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 499px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 499\/499;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12541\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"499\" height=\"499\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody wants more spending money, but for students, the need is dire. They don&#8217;t have the options an employed person has &#8211; \u00a0no credit, banks, etc,\u201d the fintech entrepreneur explains. \u201cBut then I thought, why can\u2019t I do something about it? We\u2019re in 2020, there is so much open-source data available to use for behaviour analysis. Why not use that data and give students something they actually need?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he prepared to graduate (2019-2020), he and a friend, Meherdeep Kaur, hit upon an idea. What students lacked was a convenient pay later option that could be used through a third-party app or wallet. \u201cNot everyone can get a credit card but everybody uses UPI &#8211; more than 15 million accounts have been created in the past four or five years. We wanted to create a system where a student could buy a plate of\u00a0<em>pani puri <\/em>and access a pay later option,\u201d he says, of the idea where they could register with a college id, Aadhaar card and KYC process, as PayCrunch accesses open data on their phones.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>How human behaviour gave them the way forward<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Much of the work involved a study of human behaviour. As they explored repayment systems, they found that customers could be divided into two segments &#8211; the ability to pay and the willingness to do so. \u201cWe checked their ability to pay by doing the math on the user account. Yet, for willingness? This is something nobody will admit to you &#8211; everybody promises to repay debts. So we study past behaviours through social media, transaction data and utility bills,\u201d explains the fintech entrepreneur. It\u2019s a lot less complex than it sounds, for the user at least &#8211; the credit lines are approved in an hour or two, after which the user can go to any store, scan a code through the app and pay later.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12542 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-2.png\" alt=\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\" width=\"679\" height=\"425\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 679px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 679\/425;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-12542 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.globalindian.com\/youth\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-2.png\" alt=\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\" width=\"679\" height=\"425\" \/><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just about money either,\u201d Aman remarks. \u201cIn college, there is one thing more important than the money &#8211; status. We want to build a whole credit system and offer perks and benefits in the future.\u201d Right now, Aman and his 12-member team are working to partner with stores, restaurants and pubs, and companies like Amazon, Myntra and Starbucks.<br \/>\n<strong style=\"color: #333333; font-size: 18px;\"><br \/>\nPeople-watching unearthed revelations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Observing people is what Aman enjoys most, thus working out of cafes helps him meet people daily. The fintech entrepreneur explores indie music, loves a good suspense thriller, &#8220;Have you heard of a writer named Sidney Sheldon&#8221; and looking mystified when met with laughter, he adds, \u201cI have started geeking out into entrepreneurial books as well now.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Follow Aman on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/aman-bhayana-bab9ab164\/?originalSubdomain=in\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(March 15, 2022) Moving across the country for college, fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana, who, at 22 is the co-founder, PayCrunch, quite naturally revelled in his newfound freedom. But even unbridled independence, he found, was something of a mixed bag. Like his classmates, he would count every last rupee &#8211; a difficult call to make when popularity and status were so dependent on \u201cbeing seen\u201d at the right restaurants and making travel plans. Requests to parents for personal credit cards were inevitably met with a resounding \u201cno.\u201d And with no credit scores, borrowing money from mainstream channels wasn\u2019t possible either. \u201cObviously, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":12570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","story-category":[215,2505,2563,2587],"story-tag":[2953,664,2956,2952,2954,2955],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Indian Youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T07:25:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"5443\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1814\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/\",\"name\":\"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-15T06:34:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T07:25:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg\",\"width\":5443,\"height\":1814},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana helped students avert a &#8216;PayCrunch&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/\",\"name\":\"Global Indian Youth\",\"description\":\"A hero\u2019s journey\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian","description":"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian","og_description":"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students","og_url":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/","og_site_name":"Global Indian Youth","article_modified_time":"2022-03-17T07:25:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":5443,"height":1814,"url":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/","url":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/","name":"Fintech entrepreneur | Aman Bhayana | PayCrunch | Global Indian","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-15T06:34:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T07:25:50+00:00","description":"Fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana founded PayCrunch, a micro lending app that caters exclusively to college students","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/aman-banner-1920x640mm-small.jpg","width":5443,"height":1814},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/cover-story\/how-fintech-entrepreneur-aman-bhayana-helped-students-avert-a-paycrunch\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/story\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How fintech entrepreneur Aman Bhayana helped students avert a &#8216;PayCrunch&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/#website","url":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/","name":"Global Indian Youth","description":"A hero\u2019s journey","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/12534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"story-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story-category?post=12534"},{"taxonomy":"story-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.globalindian.com\/youth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story-tag?post=12534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}