Finarkein Analytics Raises Funds From Info Edge, IIFL To Build Open Digital Ecosystems

Pune-based data analytics startup Finarkein Analytics has raised an undisclosed seed funding amount co-led by IIFL’s Fintech Fund and Redstart Labs, an Info Edge company.

Aaryaman Vir Shah’s Prophetic Ventures, Pearl Agarwal’s Eximius Ventures, and angels such as Shalini Chhabra of Incipia Advisors, Chirag Jain of Ashika Group also participated in the round, among others.

Finarkein Analytics said its objective is to make sure India’s Open Digital Ecosystems (ODEs) are accessible to entrepreneurs and builders.

Nikhil Kurhe and Dheeraj Kumar started this data analytics startup in 2019 to provide a robust flywheel around ODEs with  relevant tools and offerings so that builders don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

These ODEs would function as the Account Aggregator, ABDM/UHI, ONDC, among others. As access to data has become democratised with these public digital goods, businesses need a platform with native first party support to consume and publish data from these ODEs.

These days ODEs are addressing the problem of access to quality, structured and authentic data. “ Our experience indicated another cross-industry challenge of making sense of data at speed and scale, while staying compliant with current and upcoming data laws like Data Protection Bill,” said Nikhil Kurhe, cofounder, and CEO of Finarkein Analytics.

Data analytic startup Finarkein’s products are addressing this by building a DIY analytics platform that provides organisations with a trusted execution environment. Kurhe said. “We are witnessing growing interest from BFSI organisations as we help them simplify the technical landscape, experiment at pace and generate tangible business outcomes quickly.”

Pearl Agarwal, founder and MD of Eximius Ventures, said, “We are seeing strong initiatives such as the Account Aggregator framework and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) which will define how data is exchanged in future, while making consent central to it.”

“With Finarkein’s innovation we have better possibilities of optimally utilising data from different sources and in turn, enabling businesses to focus on building better,” Agarwal added.

Moreover, Finarkein’s data engineering first approach putting developers at the forefront is something that has never been done before in open banking and open data space, claimed Vibhore Sharma, partner, RedStart Labs, and former CTO, Info Edge.

“Finarkein’s take on Open Data Standards excites us, and their growth reflects in the calibre of anchor clients they’ve been able to secure across verticals,” said Mehekka Oberoi, fund manager, IIFL Fintech Fund.

Meanwhile, data analytic startups have been attracting investors’ attention quite a lot over the past few years.  

For example, in January 2022, analytics and data engineering startup TheMathCompany raised $50 Mn funding from a round led by Brighton Park Capital. Last year, Data Analytics firm Lumiq, had raised $2 Mn in a seed funding round led by Info Edge Ventures. Similarly Ahana  also raised $20 Mn in Series A funding. 

The global market for data science platforms was estimated to be worth $37.9 Bn in 2019 and was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 30% to reach $140 Bn by 2024. This growth is fuelled by the ever-pervasive need for companies to extract in-depth insights from voluminous data.