Social Money Systems, the recently introduced new parent company of SmartyPig, today announced the opening of an office in Chandigarh, India. The office, which is the company’s first outside its West Des Moines headquarters, will hold four employees, Social Money co-founder Mike Ferrari said last week.
The news comes on the heels of Social Money’s GoalSaver announcement, a new product which will allow any bank in the U.S. to utilize the company’s patent‐pending technology behind SmartyPig.com‘s social savings platform.
Upon the announcement of GoalSaver, Social Money president Scott McCormack said his company was already in talks with 12 banks about implementing its technology. On Silicon Prairie News’ PrairieCast show one week ago (video below), Ferrari indicated that those talks are happening in India, too.
“We are very much dialed into negotiations for a financial institution (in India), so that’s incredibly exciting,” Ferrari said. “Frankly, it’s one of those things where, you know, for our organization that could be incredibly impactful.”
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Leading the India expansion is Social Money’s director of international development, Mandeep Randhawa, who is the company’s original software developer – she began in 2008 – as well as a native of India and graduate of Chandigarh’s Punjab University. Today’s press release said Randhawa was instrumental in the construction of the Social Money business model.
“Operating an effective overseas office requires a leader with unique qualifications,” Dan Schulz, vice president of information technology for Social Money, said in the release. “Mandeep has that rare blend of technical and interpersonal skills that, when combined with her work ethic and local cultural knowledge, have been a catalyst for success.”
McCormack said in the release that India is a part of Social Money’s expansion initiative into key global growth markets, indicating that the company expects to open additional offices in both the U.S. and internationally over the course of the next 12-18 months.
Check out Ferrari speaking on Silicon Prairie News’ PrairieCast show on Feb. 8 about GoalSaver’s launch and office expansion in India in the video below (queued to start at the 37:23 mark).
Image credit: Image of India map by huneycuttaddison via Flickr, graphic by Danny Schreiber.
