The venture capital arm of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), along with two other investors, has provided seed funding for an Indian pension technology start-up that aspires to provide pension solutions to millions of informal workers in India, as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America.
ADB Ventures, which invests globally in early-stage technology companies addressing urgent development challenges in emerging Asia and the Pacific, has committed to invest in New Delhi-based pinBox, which has developed a micro-pension platform. Venture Catalysts and 9Unicorns are the other two investors who have agreed to provide seed capital for the company.
In India, pinBox works with players such as HDFC Pension, Nippon AMC and SBI AMC to provide pension schemes, including access to the National Pension Scheme, and insurance products for non-salaried workers.
“More than 1.7 billion self-employed women and youth in Asia, Africa and Latin America are not eligible for formal pension benefits. Even if half of them start saving even a dollar a day for their retirement, we could reach nearly $10 trillion in new long-term household savings within a decade,” said Parul Seth Khanna, co-founder of pinBox.
Jugnu Pati, investment specialist at ADB Ventures, said the company’s easy-to-use digital platform and knowledge of the vulnerabilities of financial security for informal sector workers, particularly women, put it in a unique position to disrupt the sector.
“The financial support will help us expand our capacity to effectively meet the growing demand for retirement integration solutions from multiple countries,” said Gautam Bhardwaj, co-founder of pinBox.
