This startup gets big bucks for ‘small change’

Mahesh Bhupathi Pardhasarthy wanted to buy a bar of chocolate for his nephew. It cost INR 20 (US$0.32) and Pardhasarthy had an INR 500 (US$8) note in his wallet. The shopkeeper refused to accept it as he didn’t have enough small change to return the difference. This was the beginning of Changer Mints, which has just raised INR 10 million (US$160,000) from private investor Gagan Reddy.

“No change” is a frequently recurring problem most Indians who shop with cash face. Shopkeepers offer candy to shoppers in lieu of change, or lose a transaction. Auto rickshaw drivers will say “no change’ before you can say “keep the change.”

Changer Mints has found a solution to the big problem of small change in India: it has an NFC-based product to instantly transfer small change. Near field communication (NFC) technology enables devices to establish radio communication with each other.

You can pick up a “changer card” from retailer stores or authorized dealers. Scratch it to reveal the pin number, call Changer Mints at its toll-free number, enter the pin, stick the NFC tag to the back of your phone, and your small change is in your phone always.

Pardhasarthy was doing his master’s at Lund University when he came up with the solution to the problem he had encountered often in India. He then attended a pitching session at the Mobile Heights Business Center (MHBC) in Sweden. MHBC backed the student entrepreneur with money and mentorship to kick-off a startup. Sudhanshu Pawar, a scientist from Pardhasarthy’s alma mater, too invested into the startup and came on board as a co-founder.

Changer Mints was incubated at the Nasscom Startup Warehouse in Kolkata, where it built its first workable prototype. “Soon, we are planning to tie up with a bank after which when a customer taps his NFC card he can get his change directly to his bank account. In this way, people of India can get used to card-based transactions,” Pardhasarthy says.

It is currently operating in Kolkata. Bangalore and New Delhi are on the cards soon.