Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Shruti Mehrotra: My passion for travel was nurtured from a young age, having spent a few years growing up in the Fiji Islands before moving back to India and then moving around within India every few years along with my parents due to the nature of my father’s job. To this day travel continues to be a very important part of me and has shaped a lot of my
perspectives.
Like my customers today, I have also been through the phase of wanting to travel but not having enough funds, a sentiment shared by most of my peers, friends and family.
Professionally, I have seventeen years' experience in financial services including six in investing at Multiples Private Equity and Astro Capital. I was fortunate to be a part of the investment team at Multiples Private Equity at a time when online travel was emerging in India and got to understand the travel industry and business models from close quarters.
This was also the time when the Government of India had launched the UDAN initiative, aiming to ensure that the common man of India can fly by launching airports across the length and breadth of India.
However, while innovation was happening in travel, nobody was solving for the financing problem. While online travel bookings were becoming commonplace in Tier 1 cities, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities still grappled with limited financing options, foreign exchange markups, low travel insurance penetration, and the absence of travel-focused savings products.
Many still see travel as a personal loan and as someone who understands the travel and finance industry very closely, I realized there was a lot of value being left on the table due to this perception.
Recognizing these gaps, a growing demand from customers, and a commitment to enable people to explore the world by removing financial constraints, I saw an incredible opportunity. That’s when Mihuru was born!
Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Mihuru?
Shruti Mehrotra:
Our key services include a travel credit line which is offered to travelers and a newly launched working capital facility offered to travel agents.
Travelers benefit as they can afford trips which they could not before, choose flights over trains, upgrade their vacations, access credit even with no credit history and save up to 40% on travel costs.
Travel agents benefit by avoiding the use of their own capital to address seasonal cash flow issues in the travel industry, while also increasing conversions by an average of 30% and boosting average booking sizes by 40%.
Over time we will become a one stop destination for all travel financing needs of travelers as well as travel providers, offering them everything from loans to a digital piggybank, insurance, visa and a host of other travel financing related services.
Great Companies: What makes Mihuru different from hundreds of other similar service providers?
Shruti Mehrotra:
Mihuru is the only travel focused lending service provider in India. Currently most generic service providers offer point of sale (POS) loans. However, when a traveler is deciding when and where to go, the question raised is where we should or can go in the budget we have. Our credit line provides visibility on budget availability to travelers, helping them to make this decision. Having this knowledge provides travelers with peace of mind not just for their current booking but also their future bookings, helping us build lifelong relationships with our customers in contrast to the transactional approach of a loan.
By focusing on the specific challenges encountered within the travel sector, creating solutions that consider factors like travel history, behavior, destination and purpose, and offering personalized plans to each traveler (e.g. book now pay before you fly or fly now pay later) we are also able to provide up to five times higher approval rates than the industry standard.
Furthermore, backed by our technology, we are able to integrate with major travel companies to offer customers a truly seamless end-to-end application journey rather than a broken journey of being redirected to an external website like other service providers.
All of this differentiates us from other service providers because our solutions are tailored to the unique needs of the travel industry and address the challenges of both travelers and travel providers.
Great Companies: What were the struggles and challenges you faced and how did you overcome them?
Shruti Mehrotra: In the early days, as a solo woman founder, I faced various challenges, including investor skepticism, limited access to networks, market resistance being a woman leader, and was met with multiple day-to-day challenges in terms of building the business.
However, I remained focused on our goal of making travel accessible to all and dedicated time to building our team, technology and partnerships, ensuring I was always looking beyond the initial struggles. Being an alumna of the Kellogg School of Management (USA) and having spent 17 years in financial services across India and South East Asia, I was able to leverage my experience and network to face the challenges that came my way and build a team of individuals with a shared vision and extensive industry experience. This team has been a true pillar of growth for Mihuru.
Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I have always viewed challenges as chances to learn, adapt and innovate. No matter what the obstacle is, with the right mindset, dedication and determination we continue our advance towards our vision of making travel accessible for all.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Mihuru?
Shruti Mehrotra: Our vision is to become the preferred payment provider for travel across markets that we operate in; empowering travelers to travel more and enabling travel providers to grow their business through innovative financial solutions.
5 years down the line we will be a one-stop solution for all travel financing needs across India, Middle East and Africa, providing a bouquet of solutions to travel providers and travelers alike.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Shruti Mehrotra: Your most important skill is going to be persuasion — you’ll need to convince people to buy from you, to work for you, to invest in your startup and so on. Do whatever it takes to learn the art of persuasion. Remember – you decided to build something because you see a future that others don’t, so you need to do a really good job making sure others are able to see what you see!