CrediWatch

Crediwatch Information Analytics is a Bengaluru-based financial technology company operating as a data insights-as-a-service platform. Founded in September 2016 by the husband-and-wife duo Meghna Suryakumar and Sandeep Anandampillai, the company was born from a realization they had while running a previous legal tech startup. They identified a significant market gap in the discovery and analysis of data for corporate due diligence, particularly for credit decisions. Suryakumar, a lawyer with degrees from Bangalore University and Columbia Law School and experience running a cross-border law firm, recognized the need for a robust framework to assess risk using alternative data. Anandampillai, with a technology background at companies like Oracle and ThoughtWorks, provided the technical expertise to build the solution.

The company targets the vast number of Indian businesses operating in an 'information dark space', where traditional credit assessment is challenging. Its core business is providing financial institutions, corporations, and law firms with actionable intelligence and predictive analytics to assess the financial health of other businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Crediwatch has developed a proprietary AI and machine learning engine that aggregates data from thousands of public and alternative sources, analyzing over 25,000 data points for a single entity. This automated process generates dynamic risk profiles and insights with no direct human intervention. The business model is primarily subscription-based, offering access to its cloud platform, supplemented by variable charges for specific data procurement and analysis transactions.

Crediwatch's suite of products includes enhanced credit reports, early warning signals (EWS) for monitoring portfolio health, and a dynamic 'Trust Score' that acts as a credit bureau score for businesses. Additional offerings encompass digital onboarding, Video KYC, e-signatures, and GST analysis. This allows clients like SBI, Deutsche Bank, Aditya Birla Finance, and Capital Float to automate due diligence, manage credit lines more effectively, and reduce credit risk. The company has analyzed over 50,000 businesses and a loan portfolio valued at $7 billion. Since its inception, Crediwatch has raised a total of $6.24 million over seven funding rounds, with its latest Series A round in April 2023. Key investors include Artis Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and Modern India.

Keywords: financial technology, data analytics, risk management, credit intelligence, business intelligence, due diligence automation, predictive analytics, SME lending, credit risk scoring, alternative data, AI-powered analytics, fintech India, corporate governance, early warning signals, portfolio monitoring, digital onboarding, financial health assessment, KYC solutions, data-as-a-service, trade credit