Fintech Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eye In September
by Gaurav Bagur · Inc42SUMMARY
- The sixth edition of Inc42's '5 Fintech Startups To Watch' brings forth fintech startup with innovations in investment tech, lending, AI, among others.
- As AI, regulation and changing business models reshape fintech, a new crop of startups is emerging across India’s fast-evolving financial landscape
- Inc42's sixth edition of '5 Fintech Startups To Watch' brings forth fintech startup with innovations in investment tech, lending, AI, among others
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It was a busy month for India’s fintech ecosystem. On the public markets, SEBI issued final observations on the proposed IPO of Social Worth Technologies, the parent company of lending tech startup Fibe (formerly EarlySalary), while digital lending unicorn Moneyview completed its stock market debut. Meanwhile, Zerodha received the regulator’s nod to operate as a merchant banker, and Upstox launched US stock investing on its platform.
Beyond these developments, two themes dominated the fintech conversation in September: the growing use of AI in payments and the changing economics of fintech businesses.
With a flurry of AI-centric products, the Global Fintech Fest 2026 (GFF) in Mumbai was a major showcase this month. BharatPe launched an agentic AI platform for merchants, Pine Labs unveiled an agent-led commerce feature on L&T Finance’s PLANET app, while several banks and NBFCs partnered with new-age startups to bring AI capabilities to their platforms.
While UPI operator NPCI also launched enterprise-focused AI tools, its expected launch of a framework for agentic payments on UPI did not materialise.
Meanwhile, the rapid advancement of AI has raised concerns about the potential risks that frontier models could pose to the security and stability of the financial system.
At GFF, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra both stressed the need for fintech companies to strengthen consumer trust. NPCI MD and CEO Dilip Asbe also said banks and payments companies would need to invest in AI to combat cyber threats, while explaining the rationale behind introducing merchant discount rate (MDR) charges on UPI.
This brings us to the second major theme of the month: fintech economics. After months of speculation, the new UPI MDR regime has finally been notified. From October 15, UPI payments above ₹2,000 will attract a 0.4% fee, with exemptions for smaller merchants, critical sectors and peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers. The new framework has sparked a debate over who will ultimately bear the cost and whether, or to what extent, it could be passed on to consumers.
The insurance sector is facing a similar inflexion point. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed bringing back product- and channel-specific commission caps for insurance distributors. The move could directly affect commission-dependent listed insurtech companies like PB Fintech and Turtlemint.
The common thread running through these developments is the challenge of balancing consumer protection with the commercial interests of fintech and financial services companies.
Against this backdrop, we are back with the sixth edition of the “Five Fintech Startups To Watch”. This monthly series spotlights startups operating in some of the most promising and fast-evolving segments of India’s fintech ecosystem.
With that said, here are some of the interesting ventures that caught our attention in September.
Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. Startups have been listed alphabetically.