Vahana Hub: an API marketplace, from zero to one
Bringing API discovery, testing and integration together for financial institutions.
- Market
- India
- My work in this market
- An API marketplace for banks and lenders
Project brief
Banks and financial institutions need APIs from many providers to build services such as customer onboarding, credit assessment and payments. Each provider usually means a separate evaluation, contract and integration. Vahana Hub brings those APIs into one marketplace, with a built-in gateway to connect and manage them. I led the zero-to-one build and launch from the product side: defining the customer, partner and admin experiences, setting release priorities, and working with design and engineering to take the platform to market.
My role
My title is Product Analyst, and I wear the product manager’s hat for Vahana Hub. I work across discovery, roadmap and backlog priorities, product design and release planning, alongside product leadership, design, architecture, engineering and QA.
- 20+
- banks and financial institutions using the platform
- 2,000+
- APIs from 70+ providers
- 50M+
- API requests a year
Key decisions
- 01
Decide what the first release leaves out
A marketplace has three sides: customers, API providers and the team running it. I scoped the first release to cover all three through listings, customer and partner management, and administration. Provider self-configuration waited for a later release, and custom API development for individual clients stayed out of scope, so the release had a boundary engineering could build to.
- 02
Use customer conversations to shape the roadmap
Walkthroughs surfaced needs such as enterprise login, two-factor authentication and using APIs through AI tools. I turned these into product requirements and backlog priorities; more than 20 of the priorities that shipped came from these conversations. The AI discussions helped shape the Vahana MCP server, which gives AI agents a way to work with the platform’s APIs.
- 03
Make provider onboarding easier to complete
Repeated email hand-offs delayed partner evaluation. I moved screening to the start of a digital onboarding flow and ran the NDA alongside the evaluation. Onboarding came down from two weeks to three days, so providers bring their APIs onto the platform sooner.
Outcome
The platform launched and now serves 20+ banks and financial institutions, with 2,000+ APIs from 70+ providers and 50M+ API requests a year. My go-to-market work with leadership and sales contributed to 4 deal wins. My work continues across new releases as customer and partner needs evolve.
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