Building Expatly: Lessons from India's Fintech Ecosystem

Building a fintech product in India is like building a rocket ship while flying it. The pace of innovation is relentless, the regulatory landscape is complex, and the opportunity is massive.

The "Aha!" Moment

It started with a simple observation: International business travelers in India were struggling. They had corporate cards that didn't work at local merchants, they couldn't use UPI (the payment method everyone else was using), and they were drowning in paper receipts.

We realized that while India had built the world's most advanced digital payments infrastructure, the rest of the world was locked out of it.

Lesson 1: Solve for the "Last Mile"

Many global travel management companies (TMCs) solve for flights and hotels. But the friction happens on the ground—paying for a chai, booking an auto-rickshaw, or splitting a dinner bill. We decided to focus on this "last mile" of the travel experience.

Lesson 2: Compliance is a Feature, Not a Bug

In fintech, especially cross-border payments, regulation is everything. Instead of trying to bypass rules, we embraced them. We spent 18 months building a compliance-first architecture that satisfies RBI regulations while delivering a seamless user experience.

"Trust is the currency of fintech. If you lose that, no amount of features can save you."

Lesson 3: Design for Delight

Enterprise software is notoriously clunky. We asked ourselves: "Why can't a corporate travel app feel as good as Instagram or Spotify?" We invested heavily in design, micro-interactions, and speed. The result is an app that employees actually want to use.

The Road Ahead

We're just getting started. With the launch of our AI assistant and deeper integrations with global expense platforms, we're moving closer to our vision: making business travel feel like magic.