Zerodha’s Tijori bet goes beyond broking: building investor intelligence tools

Zerodha's platform was dominated by active traders for nearly six to seven years since its inception in 2010. However, since 2016, the customer base has begun shifting significantly towards cash-market investors, Somnath Mukherjee, VP of corporate development at Zerodha, told Mint. Today, over 80-85% of Zerodha’s customers are focused purely on cash equities and mutual funds.

According to its website, Zerodha has 16 million customers and approximately ₹6 trillion in equity assets, and claims to handle roughly 15% of daily retail exchange volumes.

This shift comes as equity investments have been booming—powered by household savings, rising retail participation, and domestic mutual funds with ample dry powder. A mix of increasing income, easier digital onboarding, and relatively muted returns from traditional products has nudged more investors into the markets.

Mutual fund data reflects this shift. Growth or equity-oriented schemes have steadily risen since the April-June 2023 quarter, climbing from ₹18,358.08 crore to a massive ₹1,18,986.10 crore in October-December 2024.

After that peak, inflows cooled off to ₹94,073.13 crore in January-March this year and ₹66,869.42 crore in April-June. But the momentum appears to be returning, with July-September 2025 seeing ₹1.06 trillion in inflows.

Zerodha's stake in Tijori will help a growing cohort of mutual fund investors make more informed, research-backed decisions, Mukherjee said. The platform is building products tailored for institutional clients, opening up a wider opportunity beyond retail, he added. Mukherjee did not disclose the exact size of Zerodha’s stake in Tijori, but pointed out that it is a “significant" stake.

“At the moment, Zerodha only caters to retail clients…Tijori is now building an enterprise-grade product, which is not yet live, that could become a strong use case for institutional clients such as asset managers, mutual funds, PMS providers, and AIFs," Mukherjee added.

Zerodha had been exploring opportunities in these institutional categories. “So the enterprise solution felt like a natural fit, almost a value-added service we could offer to this segment."

Its direct mutual fund platform Coin touches every major AMC in India. “We felt it would be a natural extension, using Coin to strengthen those relationships, enable broking access for asset management companies (AMCs), and layer on the kind of value-added services Tijori is building," he said.

Boost for Tijori

Zerodha may consider increasing its stake in Tijori if the partnership plays out well, Mukherjee added. For Tijori, a significant portion of the $5 million in fresh capital is allocated to developing its AI-driven products, which continue to exhibit the strongest growth and user traction.

While retail users currently make up the bulk of Tijori’s customer base, the company is also looking to broaden its enterprise footprint and gradually dial down its dependence on retail.

Tijori is also gearing up to enter new markets, including the US. And with Zerodha’s recent investment providing ample runway, Tijori isn’t actively scouting for another funding round anytime soon, Siddharth Hegde, cofounder of Tijori, told Mint.

Some of the AI-driven premium products naturally come at a price point above retail, but they offer real value for enterprises, he said.

“Over time, we expect 60-70% of our products to be for enterprises, with the remaining products spread across Zerodha and Tijori for retail investors."

On the enterprise side, Hegde said, AI will not replace analysts but will greatly expand their coverage capabilities. Analysts won’t be confined to following just 20 names, they could easily monitor 100 companies in real time, and that’s where efficiency really scales and how Tijori sets itself apart from competitors that offer only bits of data for free, explained Hegde.

Currently, about 80-90% of Tijori’s users come through Zerodha, and that entire funnel is retail, he said. In contrast, the company's Concall Monitor tool is now a fully enterprise-focused product. Over time, the customer mix is expected to shift to roughly 60% enterprise and 40% retail, he added.

Zerodha’s turf today is crowded with sharp contenders: from Groww, the fast-rising favourite of first-time investors, to Upstox and Angel One, both strong tech-first discount brokers (Angel also adds advisory and research); and 5Paisa, another low-cost alternative.

Beyond discount brokers, traditional brokers like ICICI Direct, HDFC Securities, and Sharekhan remain relevant for investors who prefer full-service support and research.

So far, customers have been sticky on digital brokers. But with the market moving sideways over the past year, retail users are beginning to explore platforms that offer deeper analysis, which is exactly the gap Zerodha is trying to fill, said Raghvesh, insurance and capital markets research analyst at JM Financial Institutional Securities.

That said, the institutional segment has a lower revenue/profit potential than retail broking. And if Tijori succeeds in building a strong product and scaling its institutional offering, Zerodha might fully integrate Tijori within its own platform, he added.