Acquisition
Jun 2025Prateek Swain's LinkedIn profile says Swadesh was acquired by Conduit in June 2025, although Swadesh's own website and YC pages were still live in July 2026, so the status should be treated cautiously.
SourceWe setup Immigrants with a free US Bank Account, Credit Card, SIM…
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Jul 29, 2026
Overview
Swadesh is a YC-backed neobank and cross-border financial services startup for Indian students and immigrants moving to the U.S.; its core offer is a pre-arrival U.S. checking account bundle with credit-building, remittance, and SIM-card services. Public sources also show a possible June 2025 Conduit acquisition signal that may make some company pages stale.
Primary product
Pre-arrival U.S. bank account + credit-builder card/remittance/SIM bundle for Indian expats
Founded
2019
Headquarters
New Delhi, India
Team size
1-10
Industry
Financial Services
Sub-industry
Neobank / cross-border remittance
Offices
New Delhi, India
Gurugram, India
United States
Canada
Business model
consumer fintech
neobank
cross-border remittance
credit-building financial services
Funding
Stage
Pre-Seed
Total raised
$2.3M
Latest round
Pre-Seed · Jul 2022
Latest amount
$2.3M
Jul 2022 · Khosla Ventures
People & investors
Founders
Co-founder
Work & culture
Mission-driven and immigrant-focused; the company describes itself as building for Indian students, expats, and professionals, with a strong diaspora/community angle and a 'dreamers-in-arms' framing.
Compensation
Public YC job listings exposed India-based pay bands for a few roles (for example, backend $25-$40, fullstack ₹25-₹40 INR, and a sales intern at ₹15K-₹18K INR), but no broader compensation philosophy was published.
Benefits
No monthly maintenance fee
No application fee
No minimum balance requirement
No interest charges on the credit product
No security deposit required for the credit-builder card
FDIC insurance up to $250,000
Free AT&T SIM card
$25 signup bonus
24/7 WhatsApp support
Complimentary immigration office hours
Fundraising office hours for YC founders
Product & market
Pricing
Freemium consumer fintech / transaction-spread model: no monthly, application, or minimum-balance fees; monetization likely comes from interchange, remittance, and partner-bank/service economics.
Differentiators
- —Open a U.S. checking account from India before arrival
- —FDIC-insured U.S. banking before landing in the U.S.
- —Credit-builder card with no security deposit or interest
- —Bundled remittance and U.S. SIM services
- —24/7 WhatsApp support and direct founder access
- —Diaspora/community network via Swadesh Club
- —No monthly, application, or minimum-balance fees
Technology
AWS
Python
SQL
Docker
Flutter
React
Node.js
C++
Retool
Riverpod
GoRouter
Java
Go
Customers
Indian students moving to the United States
Indian immigrants and expats in the United States
Indian founders/leaders relocating to the U.S.
Competitors
Wise
traditional U.S. banks
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
under $1M (third-party LinkedIn/company snippet; other directory estimates vary)
Estimated monthly visits
1.4K
Traffic estimate as of Apr 2025
Signals & risks
Latest news
The Times of India · Aug 2023
Covers the launch of Swadesh Global Pay, a remittance service for sending money from India to the U.S. with cheaper rates, fast processing, and a partnership with Muthoot Forex.
Inc42 · Jul 2022
Reports the same $2.25 million pre-seed round and says Swadesh would use the funds to expand its product suite, including NRE/NRO accounts and cross-border transfers.
CNBC TV18 · Jul 2022
Covers Swadesh's $2.25 million pre-seed round led by Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, 8VC, and Section32, and quotes Prateek Swain on serving Indian expats with banking, credit, remittance, and diaspora features.
BW Disrupt · Jul 2022
BusinessWorld's coverage of Swadesh's $2.25 million pre-seed raise from Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, 8VC, and Section32.
YourStory · Jul 2022
Summarizes Swadesh's $2.25 million pre-seed funding and explains that the money was intended to scale customer acquisition and broaden NRI-focused financial products.
Jobs and careers at Swadesh
0 jobs at Swadesh
No open positions
Check back later for new openings