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Times Internet-backed personal finance app SmartSpends, has rebranded as ETMONEY. The move came in line with the team’s vision to create a mobile-first home for all the personal finance needs of the people in India.
This move also adds the credibility, familiarity and trust of ‘ET’ Brand with ‘ET Money’ – said the company.
SmartSpends was launched in July 2015 as a personal money management app. The app extracts money-related information from the messages sent to user’s device after every transaction. Any other cash payments can be easily added under the ‘spends’ feed by the users themselves.
Apart from that it also provides sections such as Bill Calendar (to track all due, delayed and paid bills), Card Suggest (credit/debit card suggestion to save more while spending), Offers, and Fun Facts.
The new version adds the service of mutual fund transactions via the app to the existing automated expense and bill management features. To start with, the company has tied up with top 10 mutual fund houses and enables users to invest in more than 5,000+ funds.
As per Mukesh Kalra, COO, ETMONEY, “We believe that the financial journey of retail consumers in India is completely broken. We started fixing it by enabling users to understand and manage their money in a way far better than other alternatives. As a natural extension, we will now help consumers grow their money by investing in mutual funds seamlessly.”
The new features include:
Auto-created Themes – To Make Discovery Easier
The app allows consumers to find the best performing funds through auto-created themes based on specific goals (for example tax saving). The themes are created by analysing the performance of more than 5,000+ mutual funds over the last 5-10 years and a card for each fund which clearly shows the viability of the fund in terms of returns and risk.
Completely Paperless Transaction
Once the investor has identified the fund to invest in, the process of investing takes less than two minutes, whether one is KYC verified or not. After a one-time setup, it takes less than 30 seconds to invest in any fund. The app also gives the user complete visibility about the stage of investment, similar to delivery details on ecommerce sites.
Post Transaction – Unique Data-led Portfolio Management And Recommendations
Post-investment, the app lets the user track the funds he has not invested. It also gives data-led insights into the portfolio created to help users take corrective actions based on user’s spend pattern, stock market movements and investing patterns.
“Having a mobile- & data-first approach helps us provide a more seamless, unbiased experience. Everything that you see on ETMONEY is backed by data and is completely transparent,” Kalra said.
In August 2016, Times Internet, the digital arm of Times Group also launched a co-branded debit card. This will allow users to club points earned from consuming and creating content online on Times Internet sites, with the points made from online shopping.
Other startups offering mutual fund investment and portfolio management services includes Wealthy, Scripbox, etc. However, these startups only allow to invest in three to four pre-selected funds, bargaining on the fact that more options leads to less investment and a confused investor. In the personal money management space, there are startups such as MyUniverse, MoneyLover. MoneyView, MTrakr, IOU (I Owe You), and more.
Recently the SEBI also announced its plans to utilise digital wallets for the purchase of mutual funds. Earlier in June, SEBI also revealed its plans to allow online marketplaces such as Flipkart and Amazon India to sell mutual funds.
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