Jar, an Indian fintech startup that allows users to invest in gold, has turned profitable by helpinghelps millions of first-time savers use its app to build digital gold holdings.
While many consumer fintechs focus on affluent urban users or credit products, Jar has gained traction by offering a culturally familiar asset — gold — as a low-barrier entry point to saving. The four-year-old startup targets low- to middle-income users —a segment often underserved by traditional financial institutions—by allowing them to save in gold for as little as ₹10 (about $0.11) a day.
That strategy has helped Jar reach over 35 million registered users across 12,000 zip codes, co-founder and CEO Nishchay AG said in an interview. About 60% of users are from India’s smaller cities and towns (known as tier-2 and tier-3 towns), and more than 95% are saving formally for the first time, he told TechCrunch.
The startup’s financials reflect this momentum, and two sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch that it is even planning to go public next year. Investment bankers are engaging with the startup for its IPO, the sources said.
These bankers have a compelling growth story to share. Jar’s operating revenue — primarily from its core gold-saving app — grew ninefold in fiscal year 2024, which ended in March, to ₹2.08 billion (roughly $23.6 million), as disclosed in its latest filing. More dramatically, its total revenue across all business lines during that same period jumped to ₹24.50 billion (approximately $279.3 million), representing a 49-fold jump from ₹500 million ($5.7 million) in the previous financial year (FY24).
This total revenue figure includes earnings from digital gold transactions, jewelry sales through its Nek platform, and fees from …