Tide, a British company focused on providing financial and administrative solutions to small businesses, on Tuesday announced its entry into India, committing a Rs 1,000-crore investment over the next five years. The company, which plans to target the small and medium enterprises, will be hiring 1,000 people in software development, product development and field teams to help penetrate the business.
When asked about the source of funds, Gurjodhpal Singh, the chief executive of Tide India, said it has raised a funding of GBP 100 million and has been earning handsomely from its UK operations. The company plans to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) right from incorporation to normal conduct of business in a compliant manner, he said, adding that it is targeting to have 2.5 million SMEs as clients in the next five years.
Further, it is planning to introduce a dedicated bank account in partnership with RBL Bank in a way that other neobanks do, and will also try to deploy its artificial intelligence and machine learning engines to aid the SMEs access working capital, Singh said. Tide will operate from a tech centre in Hyderabad, which was started in early 2020 and already employs 200 people, and a business office in Gurugram, Singh said. India is the first market that it has chosen to expand into and there will be other countries where the company will be taking its services, Singh said.
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