“Ultimately, we see ourselves as a design company that happens to do payments—today. Tomorrow, we’ll do much more.”
Rajan Bajaj, the founder of Slice, has been redefining credit accessibility since 2016. Rajan’s journey began in Alwar, Rajasthan, a city of about 700,000 people. His upbringing was shaped by traditional aspirations of him joining the civil services.
However, his own path took a turn after excelling in state-level basketball and cracking the IIT entrance exam. His time at IIT Kharagpur further shaped his entrepreneurial spirit, though the idea of starting up wasn’t yet concrete.
About Slice
His current venture, Slice, caters to first-time credit users often overlooked by traditional financial institutions, offering payment cards with pre-approved credit lines.
With nearly 300,000 customers across 30 cities, the platform processes $200 million worth of transactions annually. Backed by $20 million in equity funding from investors like Blume Ventures and Tracxn Labs, along with support from global players like China’s Finup, Japan’s Das Capital, and Russia’s Simile, Slice has carved a niche in India’s fintech ecosystem.
Before launching Slice, Bajaj honed his skills at Flipkart as part of the product team responsible for building its marketplace. Reflecting on the early days, he recalls starting the venture shortly after turning 28, driven by the ambition to address a glaring gap in India’s credit landscape.
Starting Early
Rajan’s entrepreneurial journey began to take shape during his time at IIT Kharagpur. It wasn’t until his second year that the idea of starting something of his own truly clicked.
While on an internship in Gurgaon, he had a thought-provoking daily commute. Riding public transport from Hero Honda Chowk to IFFCO Chowk, then to Golf Course Road, he wondered why cars with just one occupant couldn’t offer a ride to others for a small fee. This marked his first brush with the startup world.
Around the same time, he discovered Airbnb and became intrigued by the concept of the sharing economy. Fueled by these ideas, Bajaj considered leaving college to start his own venture. However, after discussing it with his parents, he decided it wasn’t the right time. The value of an IIT education—especially given its relatively low cost—was too important to pass up. He chose to complete his degree before diving into entrepreneurship, a decision that would later serve him well.
Today, he believes dropping out may not be the best idea. He says,
“Stories of dropouts selling a lot don’t align with data. In the U.S., only 5% of unicorn founders are dropouts, while 25% have PhDs. No one writes stories about PhDs starting unicorns, but it’s a reality.”
Rajan Bajaj’s first venture was Mesh, a startup inspired by the book Mesh by Lisa Gansky, which introduced him to the concept of the sharing economy.
In its early days, Mesh focused on renting out items like gaming consoles and cameras. Rajan personally delivered these items on his bike, gaining valuable insights into logistics.
However, the venture faced challenges, such as the lack of insurance for shared goods, which hampered growth. Despite several pivots, from car and bike rentals to furniture rentals, the business wasn’t scalable and didn’t align with the tech-first product vision Bajaj had in mind.
The Success
“I’d always been interested in finance. During my research, I noticed how cumbersome traditional credit systems like credit cards were for users, especially millennials and Gen Z. I’d personally faced challenges accessing credit and saw my friends struggle with confusing financial products. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) resonated with me as an opportunity.”
Slice, like many startups, has undergone multiple pivots since its inception. Initially, the company’s focus evolved as Bajaj and his team worked to better understand the needs of their target audience. Today, Slice has emerged as a challenger to traditional credit cards, catering to India’s rapidly growing millennial and Gen Z populations.
With an average customer age of 27, Slice has positioned itself as a financial product that aligns with the values of simplicity, transparency, and approachability, qualities that resonate deeply with these younger generations.
The Growth
In terms of what led to the growth, Slice’s success can be attributed to its customer-first approach and the decision to build a product that founder Rajan Bajaj himself would use. At just 22, Bajaj became his first customer and biggest advocate, believing that if he could create something he loved, others in India would too. This initial focus on building a product for Bajaj’s own needs, rather than conducting extensive external research, laid the groundwork for Slice’s rapid growth.
A major turning point came in May 2019, when Slice pivoted from a Buy Now, Pay Later model to a card-first product. This shift drove the majority of transactions to the card-based model, sparking the rapid expansion the company has seen in the last two years.
What truly set Slice apart, especially in its early days, was not launching rewards immediately. While rewards are typically a key selling point for credit cards, Slice focused on solving a more pressing problem of a frustratingly slow user experience.
From cumbersome onboarding to clunky repayments, Bajaj and his team prioritised creating a seamless, user-friendly process. Only after refining this experience did they introduce rewards, which helped fuel further growth in 2023.
