Abstract  

Faircent is a leading P2P lending platform in India and this case study traces the evolution of the FinTech platform. It illustrates the myriad challenges the firm had to navigate while establishing a collateral free peer lending platform in the financial sector in the absence of established regulations. As a P2P marketplace in India, Faircent built out a full-fledged loan analytics platform by bringing onboard lenders and borrowers by providing them online tools to discover each other and transact. The case brings forth viewpoints from different platform sides such as the lenders and borrowers, along with an analysis on how the firm has shaped policy regulations by actively engaging with the central regulators. This case can be used to teach the basics of multi-sided platform business models, the different actors in the platform business along with the concepts of platform envelopment and the various strategic options for Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) to fight envelopment, including racing to acquire customers. It should help the students appreciate the platform business model and the competitive differentiation it can bring in.

Learning Objective (Maximum of 500 Characters):  Briefly describes teaching goals of case.

To understand the strategic choices that multi-sided platforms need to make – including the speed of growth (in terms of scale and scope)

1. Appreciate the threat of envelopment and the various strategic options for Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) to fight envelopment, including racing to acquire customers
2. To understand the design of a P2P platform