Jar, a micro-savings app, gains popularity as 9 million users invest spare money in digital gold

New Delhi: Jar, the country’s first micro-savings app to use UPI autopay, has gained popularity with over 9 million users saving money from online transactions and pre-set daily savings into digital gold.

How it Works:

Jar app is like a digital piggy bank. It links to your bank account and detects and rounds off daily transactions to the nearest 10 to generate spare change for each of your expenses. For example, suppose you have done a mobile recharge for Rs.98 online. In that case, the Jar app will round it off to the nearest 10, i.e. Rs.100. The app then takes that spare change of Rs. 2 (100-98) from your bank account (attached to your UPI Id) and automatically invests this in Digital Gold.

The amount is invested in 99.9% pure gold, fully secured in world-class vaults and insured by top banks in India.

Nishchay AG, co-founder and CEO, said, “Positioning a system of savings that is as familiar as ordering food or delivering packages minimizes the learning curve and consequent barriers to adoption. Additionally, pairing this ease-of-use with investments in a trusted asset class further diminishes cognitive burden typically associated with first-time financial planning.”

Jar, valued at $200 million, has raised $32 million in Tiger Global-led Series-A funding. They are also backed by a clutch of high-profile investors, including Arkam Ventures, Tribe Capital, WEH Ventures, and angels including Kunal Shah (founder of CRED), Shaan Puri (formerly with Twitch), Ali Moiz (founder of Stonks), Vivekananda Hallekere (co-founder of Bounce), Alvin Tse (of Xiaomi) and Kunal Khattar (managing partner at AdvantEdge).

According to a Dinero Neobank 2022 survey, 64 per cent of young Indians are unsure who to trust when investing in financial instruments. 59 per cent of respondents said it was difficult to find trustworthy low-risk opportunities, while 35% said they relied on familiar, safe options like mutual funds. This is due, in part, to the effort required to understand and choose among various financial products, a lack of trust in the process, and, as a result, an increased perception of risk.

"It occurred to us when setting up Jar that even as tech-savvy entrepreneurs, we had given little thought to savings and investments," said Mishab Ashraf, co-founder and chief product officer. “So, with this platform, we are attempting to instil a financial habit in individuals, particularly among India's youth. This discipline is forming as we see a 40% increase in user investments monthly. And 99% of our 9 million users are investing in any asset class for the first time."

While recording 170,000 transactions daily, Jar has begun developing many other financial instruments that will work in tandem with savings and gold-backed investments to create an ecosystem of low-risk, simple-to-use products.

For more information, visit https://www.myjar.app/