Project summary

The problem: India has 50 crore active loans. When borrowers hit temporary financial stress - a bad harvest month, delayed gig payments, slow sales - their banks don't know until the EMI bounces. By then, collections start, relationships break, and the bank loses 60-75% of the defaulted amount. 40-60% of these defaults were preventable - the warning signs were always there in the borrower's bank account. Nobody was watching.

What Stelvora does: Monitors every active loan daily, detects stress 45 days before any payment is missed, and automatically offers flexible repayment options (EMI splits, grace periods, seasonal schedules) before the default happens. The borrower keeps their credit record clean. The bank prevents the NPA. The loan stays healthy.

Why this matters: Most people who default aren't trying to - they just had a bad month and a rigid system. A farmer who earned ₹8,000 instead of ₹12,000 doesn't need collections. He needs his EMI split in two for this month. Stelvora makes that happen automatically, in his language, before he even misses a payment.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

Immediate goal (3 months): Get 3-5 small NBFCs to pilot Stelvora with their active loan portfolios. Even 10,000 loans monitored will generate real validation data on how many NPAs we actually prevent.

How I'll achieve it:

• Already have a working prototype monitoring 10,000 synthetic borrowers (built in 5 weeks)

• Open-sourced the core Loan Health Score engine on GitHub - any NBFC can test it for free

• Direct outreach to NBFCs I've researched (50+ in my target list)

• Leverage RBI Account Aggregator framework that went live in 2022 - timing is perfect

6-month goal: Convert 2 pilots into paying customers. Prove the model works with real money saved, real defaults prevented. Get testimonials. Use that to raise proper seed funding.

The bigger vision: This is the missing infrastructure layer for Indian lending. Right now, every competitor is either pre-disbursement (credit scoring) or post-default (collections). The 45-day window between "loan is fine" and "loan has defaulted" is completely empty. That's Stelvora's home.

How will this funding be used?

Ruthlessly focused on getting to pilot stage:

₹3,00,000 ($3,600) for 3 months of focused execution:

• ₹1,20,000 - Living expenses (₹40k/month) so I can work on this full-time instead of part-time alongside college

• ₹80,000 - LMS integration development (need to hire a contractor who knows Indian NBFC systems - this is the technical bottleneck)

• ₹50,000 - RBI Account Aggregator API integration and testing with real data

• ₹30,000 - Legal/compliance review (restructuring needs RBI compliance documentation)

• ₹20,000 - Buffer for NBFC meetings (travel to Mumbai/Bangalore, pitch materials)

What changes with funding: Right now I'm doing this nights and weekends around my BTech AI/ML. With funding, I go full-time for 3 months, move 10x faster, and actually get pilots live before other fintech companies notice this white space.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Just me right now. Jonepally Suprith Rao, 19, second-year BTech AI/ML at JNTU Hyderabad.

Track record:

• Built the entire working prototype (4 Python files, live Streamlit dashboard, Loan Health Score engine with 5-signal weighted calculation) in 5 weeks while handling full college coursework

• 3 months of independent research into Indian NBFC ecosystem, RBI reports, Account Aggregator documentation, fintech competitive landscape

• Interviewed by Shruthi Rajagopalan at Emergent Ventures - she asked me to develop the idea further and reapply

Why solo works right now: This is pre-product-market-fit. I can move fast, make decisions instantly, and iterate based on NBFC feedback without coordinating with a team. Once I have paying customers, I'll bring on a technical co-founder and a finance/compliance person who knows NBFC regulations inside-out.

What I'm good at: Execution speed, talking to customers (I've cold-called 20+ NBFCs already), building functional prototypes fast, understanding the business problem deeply.

What I need help with: NBFC relationship building (I'm 19, nobody takes me seriously on first call), regulatory navigation, and scaling technical infrastructure once pilots convert.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

1. NBFCs don't trust a 19-year-old solo founder (60% probability)

• Mitigation: Open-source strategy helps - they can test the algorithm without trusting me personally

• Outcome: I learn a ton about enterprise sales, try a different angle (maybe sell to smaller MFIs first), or pivot to working at an existing fintech to learn the space

2. Integration complexity is harder than expected (30% probability)

• Indian NBFCs use legacy LMS systems that are nightmare to integrate with

• Mitigation: Start with NBFCs using modern systems (I've already identified 8)

• Outcome: Takes 6 months instead of 3, but still viable

3. Account Aggregator adoption is too slow (20% probability)

• If borrowers don't consent to sharing bank data, the core model doesn't work

• Mitigation: Fallback to LMS repayment data + bureau data (less accurate but still valuable)

• Outcome: Product works but with lower accuracy - still better than nothing

4. Bigger fintech companies notice this space and move faster (40% probability)

• Companies like Credgenics or Perfios could add this feature

• Mitigation: Speed. I'm small and focused. They're big and slow. If I can lock in 10 NBFCs in 6 months, I have defensibility through data and relationships

• Outcome: Even if acquired/competed away, I've built something valuable and learned enterprise SaaS

The realistic worst case: This doesn't work, but I've learned customer discovery, NBFC operations, regulatory compliance, enterprise sales, and built a real product. That's worth more than two years of college. I'll either pivot or join a fintech with real credibility.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

₹0.

This is completely bootstrapped so far. I built the prototype on my laptop, using free/open-source tools, while living at home and attending college.

Why I haven't raised yet: I wanted to validate the idea first and build something real before asking anyone for money. Now I have a working prototype, clear NBFC feedback, and a concrete execution plan. That's why I'm applying now.

Other funding I'm pursuing:

• Emergent Ventures (reapplying after Shruthi Rajagopalan's interview)

• Indian fintech accelerators (ACE, SIDBI programs)

• Angel investors in the Hyderabad startup scene

Why Manifund specifically: I need early-stage risk capital from people who care about impact (preventing financial ruin for vulnerable borrowers) more than just commercial returns. Manifund's model - fast decisions, small grants to individuals, focus on underserved problems - matches exactly what I need right now.