This fintech startup wants to help you get the best forex rates in India

Fxkart is an online aggregator of foreign exchange dealers based in the UAE and India. It aims to help consumers get the best deal on forex transactions, while helping dealers get visibility and more transactions.

Exchanging money is a hassle in India, with different rates and formalities at various banks and dealers. Fxkart aims to remove this hassle with a reverse auction model to drive down rates, while offering the convenience of finding suitable dealers nearby.

“We provide the best exchange rates by comparing rates across foreign exchange dealers who compete for the consumer’s business,” says Fxkart founder Mushtaq Shah, who is also co-founding partner of UK-based Quantmerics Capital Management, a billion dollar hedge fund company. Shah was earlier the executive director of Goldman Sachs International.

Fxkart’s advisor is Faraz Naqvi, who is a partner at QM Ventures in the US. Shah and Naqvi have just invested US$2 million from their personal savings as seed funding in Fxkart, says an announcement from the company.

Fxkart, which has an R&D center in Bangalore, will use the funds to expand its dealer network in India and enhance its IT infrastructure. It is also launching a forex booking mobile app with 500 dealer locations across India. Its geo-location, instant chat, and deal-tracking features will enable users to locate the nearest and cheapest dealers and book forex requirements instantly, says a statement from Fxkart.

“Within a few weeks of the commencement of our operations in India, we have achieved an online transaction volume of more than INR 30 million (US$500,000) with 25 pan-India dealers and 500 branches,” says Fxkart CEO Abdul Hadi Shaikh, who was earlier the head of research at London-based Ratings Intelligence. In the next six months, Fxkart aims to quadruple that network.