Bengaluru-based payroll and workforce platform connectivity startup, Tartan, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Info Edge Ventures, along with participating investors including 500 startups, Titan Capital, Varanium advisors, EMVC, Yatra Angel Network, Manipal Group and the founders of Groww. 

Tartan is an employee consent driven data exchange platform that enables real-time work & income verification and also allows employees to avail perks (like loans, credit cards, rewards) that are customized by their employer, in a single click. 

Commenting on the new investment, Kitty Agarwal, Partner at Info Edge Ventures, said, “Customer servicing and data privacy are two critical areas in today’s time. To ensure these two critical elements are addressed seamlessly, Tartan’s platform is proving to be successful for both customers looking for secure financial services and institutions who want to offer these products. We have developed a close relationship with Tartan’s founders over the last few months and are excited to join hands to fuel this platform and bring about an innovative revolution in the field of how this new set of data is shared and used."

Founded in 2021 by Pramey Jain and Meet Semlani, Tartan works as an infrastructure-as-a-service company that makes work and income data of earners accessible through a single API. The startup Tartan enables users to connect their employer-linked payroll or HR management system (HRMS) account to any app or business and verify their income and employment status in less than 60 seconds. 

Further, Tartan’s API helps organisations save massive costs and time by offering automation of job applications, new customer onboarding, loan applications, financial risk decision-making, background verification process etc. The startup is working with leading financial service providers and recruitment agencies who are currently using it’s API to access their consumer's data with their consent to verify income and employment status, monitor monthly net pay and deductions, assess user’s credibility to purchase financial products and complete their employment verifications.

Leveraging income and employment data of  the underserved and unbanked population, Tartan opens up avenues for financial inclusion for this employee segment. It benefits low salaried individuals, freelancers, social media creators and gig workers who usually have low or no credit score and are considered as ‘new to credit’ customers. 

"The process of verifying an individual's income or employment is still a cumbersome process and raises questions on the privacy of the personal data that is getting shared. Banking and lending institutions still rely on manual processes thereby spending a lot of time and resources. With the digitisation of various services like UPI (payments), e-Kyc (onboarding) etc, there is an urgent need for users to share and verify their data at the click of a button with their consent from their payroll or work platform which is usually the decision maker,” said Pramey Jain, CEO & Co-Founder, Tartan. 

“This data from the source systems will also help financial institutions to innovate their underwriting processes and offer better-suited products to large untapped customers, who have not yet moved to digital banking platforms. At Tartan, through our APIs, we are here to help banks and financial institutions to reform lending and make the process seamless and safe for all parties involved,” Jain added.

"We aim to provide a bridge that will allow data to move smoothly between employers and banks, with users having the key to open this bridge at all times. The customer will have the authority to give explicit consent for each transaction and choose who can access which data of theirs.” added Meet Semlani, COO & Co-Founder, Tartan.

The budding startup plans to use the funds towards product enhancements, team expansion and boosting its market presence. It will be interesting to observe how Tartan leverages the new funding to accomplish ambitious growth plans and deliver on the growing demand for financial inclusion of the lower income employee segment.