Cross border fintech platform HiWi founded by serial fintech entrepreneur Dewang Neralla raises Rs. 7.25 crores led by Unicorn India Ventures
Mumbai : HiWi, a global cross-border remittance fintech, has successfully secured INR 7.25 crore in a pre-seed funding round, with Unicorn India Ventures and the Unmaj Group Family Office leading the investment. The capital injection is earmarked for advancing product development and executing a strategic go-to-market rollout.
Headquartered in Mumbai, HiWi was co-founded by Dewang Neralla, a seasoned fintech entrepreneur and the former Founder and CEO of Atom Technologies, alongside Geeta Chauhan and Ujwal Tamminedi, accomplished professionals in the information technology and services sector.
The contemporary cross-border payment landscape is plagued by issues such as opacity in exchange rates, exorbitant forex margins, and documentation challenges. HiWi’s mission is to streamline these processes across various sectors, including Study Abroad, Trade & Finance for SMEs, and industries confronted with intricate procedures.
HiWi’s inaugural offering is geared towards simplifying remittances for students studying abroad. The platform serves as a centralized and integrated solution for both study abroad agents and students, offering a comprehensive suite of financial services. This includes a user-friendly mobile application for students to transfer funds, open foreign bank accounts, access financing options, manage card expenditures, accrue loyalty points, all while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.
HiWi aspires to assist more than 25,000 students in remitting USD 100 million by March 2025 and aims to onboard 5,000 educational consultants onto its platform.
Dewang Neralla, Founder of HiWi, expressed his gratitude, stating, “I would like to thank Unicorn India Ventures and Unmaj Group for having confidence in HiWi’s vision to make cross-border remittances accessible and convenient for all stakeholders. Although our initial focus is on education, we plan to expand our services to cater to SMEs, further streamlining and enhancing the remittance process.”
Commenting on the fundraise, Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures, says, “Foreign education is an ever growing market. At Unicorn, we have studied this segment and made investments both in study abroad and fintech companies. HiWi is combining the power of tech and addressing a much needed gap of facilitating cross border payments that are easier and convenient for both the parents and students. The company is starting with foreign admission but the product stack will be leveraged for other use cases post foreign admission, The future offerings canvas in this segment will give immense growth opportunities to HiWi.”