NeoFinity Revolutionizes Digital Payments for the Emerging Affluent: How Rayan Malhotra is Bringing the "Apple Pay" Experience to India via NeoZAP

January 3, 2026 15 min read

For India's growing class of "emerging affluents"—digital-first professionals aged 18 to 30—the current payment landscape is a paradox of choice. While UPI has democratized small-value transactions, it has also cluttered bank statements with hundreds of ₹10 and ₹20 entries. Meanwhile, the global gold standard of convenience—Apple Pay—remains absent from the Indian market due to regulatory hurdles. This creates a friction point for iPhone users who crave the "tap and pay" simplicity seen in New York or London but are forced back into the multi-step world of QR codes and OTPs.

Enter Rayan Malhotra, the founder of NeoFinity. A former YouTuber with a million-strong following and an RBI-award-winning fintech innovator, Rayan is bridging this gap with NeoZAP. By launching India’s first payment tag that turns any smartphone into a tap-to-pay device, NeoFinity is capturing a niche but high-value market. Backed by the Neo Group (which manages over ₹31,000 crores in AUM and is supported by MUFG and Peak XV), Rayan is proving that in the age of freebies, Indian customers are finally willing to pay for one thing: unrivaled convenience.

The NeoFinity Momentum

10,000+: Customers acquired within the first 3 months of launch.
70%: High activation rate for the paid NeoZAP tag.
₹1,000: Average Transaction Value (ATV)—significantly higher than UPI's ₹50.
80%: Share of customers using iPhones, solving the "Apple Pay Gap."

The Journey: From Viral Content to Viral Products

Rayan’s journey is as diverse as the fintech ecosystem itself. A decade ago, he was a tech reviewer on YouTube, scaling his channel to a million subscribers. While he was offered a lucrative role as an executive producer for a major news channel, a "filmy" yet profound dream changed his trajectory. Inspired by Steve Jobs, he faced a choice: become a pseudo-celebrity TV host or build products that solve real-life problems.

"I decided to take the risk," Rayan recalls. "I didn't know how to build products, so I started helping friends with their zero-to-one journeys in EdTech and HealthTech. I realized that my background in tech reviews and understanding social media algorithms gave me an unfair advantage in marketing and product-market fit."

This led to KASHWARE, a revolutionary "all-in-one" card app that earned him an award from the Reserve Bank of India. Though regulatory shifts eventually halted KASHWARE, Rayan pivoted, launching Sleepe (a credit-building product) and now leading the fintech vertical for the Neo Group.

"Do you want to become a glorified TV host or do you want to build products that change people’s lives? That one question before accepting a comfortable job defined my entire entrepreneurial career."

— Rayan Malhotra

The Problem: The Security and Clutter of Modern Banking

While UPI is a marvel, Rayan points out its "dark side": security and account hygiene. Most Indians link their primary savings account to UPI and debit cards. One data leak or a single fraudulent transaction on an unsecured website can drain a user's entire life savings. Furthermore, the sheer volume of small UPI transactions makes it impossible for users to track their actual spending patterns in their bank statements.

NeoZAP solves this by using a prepaid wallet model. Users load their tag with specific amounts (e.g., ₹10,000), ensuring that even in the worst-case scenario, their main bank account remains untouched. To remove the friction of "reloading," NeoFinity integrated UPI Autopay, which automatically replenishes the wallet when it drops below a certain threshold.

The "Apple Pay" Gap

In India, Apple Pay's entry is stalled by strict data localization and recurring mandate guidelines. NeoZAP bypasses this by providing a physical NFC tag that sticks to the back of an iPhone, enabling the exact same "tap and pay" experience on any RuPay-compliant terminal without requiring Apple's official integration.

Innovation in Distribution: The Blinkit Strategy

One of the most striking insights Rayan shares is the shift from "Product Innovation" to "Distribution Innovation." In a market where most fintechs spend ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 to acquire a single customer (CAC), Rayan relies on content-led growth and unconventional channels. NeoFinity is set to be the first payment product sold on Blinkit, leveraging social commerce to reach the "emerging affluent" exactly where they shop for their daily essentials.

"Founders overestimate themselves and underestimate the risk," Rayan observes. "Success isn't about having a million customers who don't use you; it's about 10,000 customers who are willing to pay ₹500 upfront for your product because they value the convenience you offer."

How NeoZAP Works

Attach: Stick the ultra-slim NFC tag behind your phone or any wearable.
Link: Connect the tag to the Neo app and set up a UPI Autopay mandate.
Tap: Pay at any card machine, Delhi Metro gate, or public transport terminal globally.
Insure: Every transaction is insured via a partnership with HDFC ERGO, providing peace of mind against frauds.

Beyond Payments: The Rise of NeoX and Digital Gold

NeoFinity isn't stopping at payments. Rayan is building an ecosystem where NeoZAP helps you spend and NeoX helps you save. NeoX is an AI-powered money management app that acts as a digital wealth manager for the retail investor—for free.

Starting next month, they are integrating Digital Gold with a disruptive twist. While gold has a historical CAGR of 11%, NeoFinity plans to offer an additional 4-5% return on top of the market rate. "Gold is India's favorite investment," Rayan says. "By giving 1% cashback on every spend in the form of digital gold, we transition the customer from a spender to a saver seamlessly."

Why Switch from Debit Cards?

Security: Debit cards expose your entire bank account; NeoZAP is a segregated prepaid wallet.
Insurance: NeoZAP offers transaction-level fraud insurance (via HDFC ERGO), which standard debit cards lack.
Rewards: 10% off at McDonald's, Starbucks, and free movie tickets at PVR/Inox—rewards usually reserved for premium credit cards.
Experience: No need to carry a wallet or even have an internet connection; your phone is all you need.

Rayan's Advice for the Next Generation

As a mentor to several startups, Rayan warns against the "Growth at any cost" narrative that plagued the 2020 golden era. He emphasizes sustainability and corporate exposure. "The average age of a successful unicorn founder in India is 40, not 20," he notes. "Get two to five years of corporate experience. Understand how things work before you risk five years of your life on an idea that might fail."

Founder's Playbook for CAC Control

Master Digital Marketing: If you don't understand the algorithms, you'll just follow the herd and overspend.
Focus on Content: Community and virality are the only ways to grow organically in a high-cost market.
Charge from Day Zero: If no one wants to pay for your product, you haven't solved a real problem.

Conclusion: Building for the Next Decade

Rayan Malhotra’s vision for NeoFinity is clear: to be the spending and saving backbone for the new India. By solving for the specific needs of the affluent iPhone user today, he is building the infrastructure to capture the next 200 million customers tomorrow. In a world where the "unicorn" label is losing its luster, NeoFinity is focusing on the fundamentals: high activation, high transaction value, and products that people genuinely love to use.