The New Faces of Fintech — Featuring Snowfoll

While we may not know exactly how fintech will impact our future, we have an idea as to who will be leading the charge. In the next installments of our ongoing blog series, “The New Faces of FinTech”, we will spotlight some of the emerging leaders in the fintech world to get their thoughts on what the future of the industry will look like.

Their origin stories are different, their paths to entrepreneurship are unique, but their impacts on their respective industries are significant. No one truly knows what the future of fintech holds, but these industry leaders may have an inkling as to what we can expect.

Our next guest is Atul Savalia, Founder of Boston-based Snowfoll. Snowfoll is a reward-focused platform for U.S. users, designed to help you manage and pay all credit card bills while also providing rewards and a holistic view of all your debt and credit card bills. All without you having to provide card numbers or card login credentials.

Atul, tell us a little bit about your background. What were you working on before founding this company?

I hold a degree in Aerospace Engineering from IIT in India. Over the past 15 years, I’ve dedicated my career to the credit risk and credit product space, collaborating with banks across four countries. My most recent role was with a lending fintech in California, where I had the opportunity to meet my co-founder and CTO, who has spent 20 years in technology.

Tell us a bit about your company? What’s the problem you’re solving?

When was the last time someone gave a cashback for paying your credit card bills? In early December, we launched SnowPay. SnowPay is a credit card wallet that enables users to track and pay all their credit card bills from a single screen and convert those bill payments into cashbacks. Each time a user makes a bill payment, they earn discount coupons that are automatically applied as cashback on their everyday spending. We are dedicated to motivating cardholders to establish autopay for their bills, maintain a robust credit profile, and revisit the app solely to redirect their earned cashbacks.

On average, Americans hold four cards, and only 20% use autopay (according to CFPB). This means they navigate through four apps to manage their credit cards, often resulting in missed payments. Last year, payments were missed about 1 billion times, with one-third attributed to forgetting to pay. We aim to eliminate this inefficiency by adding rewards to the process.

What’s the origin story behind your company? How and why did you come up with the idea?

The realization stemmed from missing a bill payment on a card I hadn’t used in almost a year. Delving deeper, we discovered that this experience resonated with our credit card customers. In India, platforms like CRED excel in providing effective bill reminders, a feature we found lacking in the US. Consequently, we decided to build our own solution.

What milestones has your company achieved so far?

Our beta product has hit the market, having built it from concept to reality within just 90 days. Currently, engaged beta users are actively contributing to the improvement of our product.

Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?

The foundation of every company, whether new or established, relies on data. For startups, data is a crucial ingredient that many lack access to. Gaining access to real industry data at such an early stage significantly boosts the foundation of the startup.

We’ve collaborated with some of the FinTech Sandbox data partners, such as Plaid and Bureaus, to kickstart our product.

What’s next for your company?

Take the beta product feedback to the next level and open it to the public. In the coming weeks, we will transition from beta product to a final product. The app’s sole function will be to facilitate autopayments, with users returning solely to collect or redirect cashbacks.

What is some of the best advice you’ve received as a startup founder?

Focus on customers first, and VCs later!

What fintech trends are you most excited about right now?

Given the advancement of technologies in the fintech space, bundling of products is the next big thing for fintech.

We’re thrilled to feature some of the incredible entrepreneurs who are participating in our Data Access Residency. If you are aware of any fintech entrepreneurs with an early stage company who could benefit from free access to data, cloud hosting, and a supportive community, please have them visit our website to learn more.