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India’s fintech unicorn Yubi makes UAE debut with spocto

The Middle East foray is in line with the fintech firm’s long-term ambition of being ubiquitous to the debt ecosystem

Yubi, one of the fastest growing fintech unicorns in the world, on Tuesday announced the opening of the regional headquarters of its risk-mitigation platform unit — spocto — at the Dubai International Financial Centre.

The Middle East foray is in line with the fintech firm’s long-term ambition of being ubiquitous to the debt ecosystem, “an invisible infrastructure layer powering credit globally and ensuring frictionless access to capital.”

For spocto, a pioneer in AI-enabled recovery infrastructure, the UAE debut will provide a strategic springboard to expand its operations globally as part of the India-UAE Start-Up Corridor. The initiative was launched in May 2022 by the DIFC and FICCI Leads, a business incubator of FICCI grow the startup ecosystem of India and the UAE

Vikas Thapar, a veteran banker, who has been named as the chief business officer, will helm spocto operations in the region.

At a media interaction at the DIFC Innovation Hub, Gaurav Kumar, founder and CEO of Yubi, said expanding internationally from the UAE, leading financial technology and digital transformation market, is an important milestone for Yubi's global ambitions.

He said spocto would provide lenders with an enhanced customer experience and improved collection efficiencies while maintaining high compliance standards. With the fintech market in the UAE expected to grow at a CAGR of 12 per cent through 2027, spocto seeks to be a key player in the risk mitigation space.

“Our suite of products implements more than 5,000 proprietary algorithms, applies ML and uses predictive AI to extract insights from otherwise ambiguous data. As a result, the risk mitigation platform provides lenders with seamless, digitally-led processes and improves their financial safety net, which in turn reduces human dependency and bounce rates while increasing self-pay rates,” said Kumar.

Sumeet Srivastava, founder & CEO of spocto, said Dubai is one of the top 20 financial centres in the world. “Our presence here will enable us to build and scale our business across the region as we innovate with our partners and clients at the intersection of data, technology, and financial services.”

Thapar, who had worked with leading financial institutions including Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Mashreq, said spocto would introduce a collaborative, digital-first approach to risk mitigation to the financial landscape here.

“The impact of spocto's first international office will be twofold: first for lenders and then for individuals and small businesses here in the region. Our platform will enable lenders and financial institutions to improve their credit decisions and collection processes; expanding their business scope and opening up new opportunities with a wider set of customers.”

Founded in 2017, spocto has since forged partnerships with over 21 financial institutions, including HDFC and ICICI Banks in India, as well as Emirates NBD, Mashreq, and CBD in the UAE. It has helped more than 30 institutions improve risk mitigation and digital collections, and has processed a $95 billion volume to date.

— issacjohn@khalejtimes.com