Sequoia India Invests $6.2 Mn In Fintech Startup Groww

Data science-based mutual fund investment platform Groww has raised $6.2 Mn in a Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital.  Y Combinator, Propel Venture Partners and Kauffman Fellows also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to build technology to scale and introduce new investment options such as stocks. Earlier in July 2016, the Bengaluru-based startup also raised $1.6 Mn from  Insignia Ventures Partners, Lightbridge Partners, Kairos, and existing investors Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori.

“We are seeing strong growth in the Indian investor base which is fuelling the market need for a better and inexpensive investment platform like Groww. With their strong product sensibilities and focus on the millennial investor, Groww aspires to be the preferred product for retail investors in India,” said Ashish Agrawal, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.

Launched in April 2017 by ex-Flipkart employees Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal, Groww operates in the direct mutual funds’ space. It helps the users in investing via a mobile app and web platform and claims to have a partnership with around 34 fund houses.

Keshre believes that there are 200 Mn people with investable income in India, but only 20 Mn investors. The only way to bring the next 180 Mn onboard is by making investing simple.

As shared by the startup in an earlier media statement, it is looking to launch more financial products and value-added services in long term. “We want to create a platform that has all possible investment solutions within a tech-enabled, easy-to-use interface – and all this while providing the best-in-class user experience above all else. That is the fundamental premise of our offering,” he added.

With players like ET Money, MobiKwik, and Paytm making their bets in the wealth management space, the segment is now growing beyond leaps and bounds. According to Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) data on the number of total investor accounts with 42 fund houses, the number of MF folios rose to a record 74.6 Mn at the end of June this year, up from 71.3 Mn at the end of March 2018, a gain of .

Other notable players in this segment are Wealthy, Scripbox, Fisdom, WealthTrust, MyUniverse, MoneyLover, MoneyView, MTrakr, IOU (I Owe You).

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