Mumbai: Bengaluru-based wealth management startup smallcase Technologies Pvt. Ltd has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by venture capital firm Sequoia India. Existing investors Blume Ventures, Straddle Capital, Beenext Pte Ltd, WEH Ventures and DSP Adiko also participated in the funding round.
The smallcase platform allows individual investors to invest in portfolios of stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) with their existing demat accounts.
“We are building smallcase as a new investment instrument class that helps you take portfolio exposure to stocks and ETFs while having no expense ratio, making them cost-effective," said Vasanth Kamath, co-founder and chief executive, smallcase. “Since the underlying securities are held in the investors’ demat account, they have complete control and transparency into their investments."
Smallcase will use the funds to work with retail brokerages and help them provide their clients with access to smallcase; work with research analysts and other Sebi-licensed professionals to deliver their portfolio research; and grow its investment advisory and content platforms to advise on stocks and ETFs, said Kamath.
It currently works with five brokerages- Zerodha, HDFC Securities, AxisDirect, Edelweiss, and 5Paisa, via which it has 250000 customers. Kamath expects the customer base to touch 2 million by March 2020. “As retail participation in equity investment grows in India, investors are increasingly looking for easy to understand, transparent and low-cost investment products," said Harshjit Sethi, principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.
“Sequoia has been one of the top investors in fintech and financial services companies in India, as well as globally. They have expertise in the space globally for products, offerings, business models, ability to help companies create new categories/build large brands and learnings from other fintechs in their portfolio," Kamath said.
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