Tag: investment platform

Lalit Keshre: Revolutionizing Investment with Groww

Lalit Keshre, Founder and CEO, Groww: a visionary who, through innovative disruption and relentless pursuit, carved a niche that changed the concept of investments for the citizens in India.

He nurtured Groww into one of the pioneering investment platforms with the vision to enable millions in informed financial decisions. A story of passion, persistence, and the urge to make a difference in the financial ecosystem that would last for generations is that of Lalit-from being a technology enthusiast to founding one of India’s leading fin-tech startups.

In this StartupTalky article, we will explore Lalit Keshre’s success story, including his early life, history, net worth, childhood, personal life, education, achievements, and more.

Lalit Keshre – Early Life and Education
Lalit Keshre – Career Highlights of Lalit Keshre
Lalit Keshre – Awards and Industry Recognition
Lalit Keshre – Philanthropy
Lalit Keshre – Personal Life
Facts About Lalit Keshre
Lalit Keshre – Impact on the Financial Landscape

Lalit Keshre – Biography

Full Name	Lalit Keshre
Birthplace	Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nationality	Indian
Education	Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay
Occupation	Entrepreneur, CEO of Groww
Known For	Co-founder and CEO of Groww
Hobbies	Reading, Technology, and Mentorship
Net Worth	$3 billion

Lalit Keshre – Early Life and Education

Born in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Lalit Keshre was brought up in a farming family that gave ample importance to education and innovation. Since his childhood, he has been fascinated with technology and solving problems; this curiosity actually laid the bedrock for his journey as an entrepreneur.

Later, Lalit did his higher education in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay. The time he spent at IIT was filled with innovative enthusiasm, and the drive to solve day-to-day world problems with its support helped him a great deal. Outside of academics, he was part of extracurricular activities during which he nurtured his leadership and teamwork attributes.

Lalit Keshre – Career Highlights of Lalit Keshre

Founding and Scaling Groww

The idea of entrepreneurship struck Lalit Keshre when he realized that in India, there was a dire need for something as simple as an easy-to-access investment platform. He saw the opening and, having the vision to democratize investment, he co-founded Groww in 2016, leading the scale-up of the platform from a mutual fund-only platform into offering a gamut of investment products including stocks, Exchange Traded Funds-ETFs, gold, US equities, and fixed deposits. In 2023, Groww crossed over 50 million users, emerging as one of the fast-moving fintech firms in India. Meanwhile, Lalit kept his eyes on the needs of the customer and stood out for his commitment to transparency.

Unicorn Status and Funding Milestones

He led Groww through several funding rounds at top valuations with top investors such as Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, and Ribbit Capital. In 2021, the platform achieved Unicorn status when it crossed over $1 billion in valuation, crossing over $3 billion by 2023, thus strongly making its leadership positioning statement in the booming Indian fintech space. His art of painting a clear vision and delivering on that promise consecutively was crucial in gathering investor confidence in the most constructive ways.

Product Diversification and Innovation

Lalit pioneered Groww’s expansion into newer avenues of investment, ensuring the platform was upgraded to meet users’ changing tastes. He introduced equity trading in 2020, followed by intraday trading and advanced stock analysis features. Besides this, Groww expanded its educational initiatives through “Groww Academy,” a platform designed to teach users about investing, financial planning, and market trends. This has helped Groww to focus both on product innovation and educate users to instill faith in the widest sections.

Strategic Acquisitions

He further led Groww to strategic acquisitions aimed at strengthening its technological capabilities and widening its market reach. In 2021, Groww acquired Indiabulls AMC for INR 175 crore, whereby it forayed into the asset management space. This aligned with Lalit’s vision for transforming Groww into a full-service financial ecosystem.

Leadership During Industry Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic brought never-before challenges to the financial sector, but Lalit had taken adequate care to steer Groww through these testing times. He capitalized on increased interest in online investing during the pandemic to ensure that the platform remained stable and secure, with ease of use even as user activity surged. This period saw Groww onboarding millions of new users, with many being first-time investors.

Advocacy for Financial Literacy

He is quite vocal about the aspect of financial literacy among young Indians. This financial awareness has turned into the stepping stone toward economic empowerment. Informed investing through webinars, workshops, or merely web-based content speaks volumes in their sheer proportion. It’s at his behest that Groww began to mirror everything that entails being truly synonymous with ‘financial education, empowering users and putting tools and resources required for smart financial decision making’ at every stage.

Groww’s revenue from operations surged from INR 1,435 crore in FY23 to INR 3,145 crore in FY24, driven by a substantial increase in fees and commission income. Additionally, the company has remained operationally profitable, with profits of INR 535 crore in FY24 from INR 458 crore in FY23.

Recognition as a Thought Leader

He gets invited to speak at various prestigious forums, including NASSCOM, Economic Times, and IIT alumni events. His insight into the fintech industry, customer behavior, and the way forward for investing has made him an insightful speaker in the entrepreneurial fraternity.

Global Expansion Vision

While Groww has focused on the Indian market, Lalit has made his ambitions to go global known. Groww began its foray into global financial integration with the introduction of US equities on its platform. He wants Groww to be a global leader in digital investments and to cater to users across the world.

Lalit Keshre – Awards and Industry Recognition

Entrepreneur of the Year, 2022: Honoured by Business Today for changing the face of the fintech industry.
The Economic Times Startup Awards 2021: Recognizing the difference it has been able to make in the investment landscape in India, Groww was named “Startup of the Year”.
For Forbes 30 Under 40: 2023, amongst “India’s most influential young entrepreneurs” making a dent in the field of Fintech.
Fintech Disruptor Award 2020: Conferred by NASSCOM for the role played in simplifying investment for the masses through Groww.
IIT Bombay Alumni Achievement Award 2022 for his outstanding entrepreneurial journey of immense value to the Economy of India.

Lalit Keshre – Philanthropy

Lalit Keshre holds an immense commitment to bringing about change in society. According to him, economic empowerment can only begin by starting with financial inclusion. He has been working on many initiatives aimed at removing the gap between urban and rural India as far as general awareness regarding financial literacy and investment opportunities is concerned.

Under Lalit’s tutelage, Groww has spread financial awareness about students and below-poverty communities through several NGO and educational collaborations. He mentors numerous young entrepreneurs and startups on how to develop their ideas by offering them experience-based insights that ensure success.

Lalit Keshre – Personal Life

Lalit Keshre keeps his personal life quite low profile. Busy with professional commitments, he always keeps quality time for his family. He is quite a voracious reader and, from time to time, publishes reflections about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship on his social media profiles.

The soft and down-to-earth-natured Lalit has always attributed his success to his team and the unabated support of his co-founders.

Facts About Lalit Keshre

Flipkart Roots: Before co-founding Groww, Lalit had been working in Flipkart‘s Indian version of the biggest eCommerce platform he managed a product development team.
IIT Bombay Alumni Network: Co-founders of Groww, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal are also IIT pass-outs. The strong professional network from those IIT days has been a strong factor in the cohesive teamwork at Groww.
Less is More: Lalit’s clear belief is in making life simple for users. Groww has a very intuitive interface and very simple investment options, thus appealing to millennials and first-time investors.
Young Investor Focus: Under Lalit’s leadership, Groww has been the default destination for the new generation of India’s investors, with over 60% of its users in the age bracket category of 18-30 years.
Innovative Marketing Approach: Groww has grown organically and through user referrals for the most part, proof that Lalit intrinsically believes in creating such a user-valuable product that users themselves promote it.
Self-Taught Financial Enthusiast: Although he studied engineering, Lalit taught himself investments and financial markets before founding Groww. He taught himself about the pain points of a first-time investor, which shaped a lot of what Groww is.
Customer-Centric Leadership: Lalit often emphasizes the importance of listening to customer feedback. He reviews user suggestions and ensures that Groww continuously evolves to meet customer needs.
Educational Advocate: Lalit strongly supports financial literacy initiatives and frequently speaks about the importance of educating users about the basics of investing. Groww Academy is a direct result of his commitment to this cause.
The Technology Visionary: To Lalit, technology democratizes access to financial services. At Groww, he has successfully been able to incorporate many of the new, upcoming technologies like Data Analytics and Machine Learning into their day-to-day operation and provide tailored recommendations to customers for frictionless experiences.
Focus on Rural Penetration: The way Lalit envisions Groww-not only for urban India but even for the most remote areas platform has started penetrating tier 2 and 3 cities. This provides facilities to small-town people so that they themselves can take the initiative and engage in financial investment, be it anything.

Lalit Keshre – Impact on the Financial Landscape

For Lalit Keshre, Groww is not only about building a successful business but also an overall philosophy of creating a financially literate and empowered society wherein everyone has the wherewithal to fulfill their financial needs. Opening access to investing and educating users, Lalit democratized wealth creation in India.

His leadership created a benchmark for innovation and customer focus within the fintech space while acting as an inspiration to many entrepreneurs in creating meaningful change.

FAQs

Who is Lalit Keshre?

Lalit Keshre is the co-founder and CEO of Groww, a popular investment platform in India that allows users to invest in mutual funds, stocks, and other financial products.

What is Lalit Keshre education?

Lalit Keshre completed his education at IIT Bombay, where he earned a degree in Engineering.

When was Groww founded?

Groww was founded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh in 2016.

January 24, 2025

Revolutionizing FinTech: Sarvjeet Virk Unveils Finvasia’s Journey, AI Integration, and Global Expansion Plans

StartupTalky presents Recap’23, a series of in-depth interviews where we engage with founders and industry leaders to explore their growth in 2023 and their predictions for the future.

The fintech sector, a dynamic fusion of finance and technology, is transforming conventional banking and financial services. Digital payments, blockchain, and robo-advisors are changing the way we handle financial transactions. Emerging companies in this field concentrate on delivering easy-to-use interfaces, streamlined transactions, and tailored financial services.

The worldwide online trading market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4%, reaching approximately $13.3 billion in 2026 from $10.21 billion in 2022. Additionally, the payments industry aims for a transaction volume of $100 trillion and $50 billion in revenue by 2030.

In a recent Recap’23 interview, we at StartupTalky had the privilege of connecting with Sarvjeet Virk, Co-founder and MD of Finvasia. We delved into how Finvasia’s innovation is reshaping the fintech landscape, examining its progress, challenges, key insights, and future strategies.

StartupTalky: What service does Finvasia provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?

Sarvjeet Virk: Finvasia, founded by my brother Tajinder and me, is a technology-driven company with Shoonya as our flagship brand in India. Shoonya, our innovative multi-asset investment platform, follows a zero-commission model, eliminating fees such as commissions, clearing, and technology charges. Our commitment to affordability and accessibility led us to break away from traditional brokerage fee structures. Despite the challenges, our tech-first approach enabled us to achieve a zero-trading experience efficiently.

A decade ago, during our time in the US, we identified challenges in the Indian capital market, particularly high brokerage fees for foreign investors. This realization prompted us to establish Finvasia, aiming to revolutionize the financial services sector with cutting-edge, real-time solutions for investors of all experience levels. Subsequently, Shoonya was developed to address these challenges.

Coming from backgrounds in both technology and finance, we envisioned leveraging technology to simplify finance for everyone. Initially operating as a Foreign Portfolio Investor (FII) in India, Finvasia’s rapid growth led to the creation of Shoonya. By identifying market pain points, we designed Shoonya as a true-zero brokerage platform, making trading accessible and affordable for investors and traders.

StartupTalky: What new services have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of Finvasia?

Sarvjeet Virk: We are dedicated to enhancing our services through the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to offer seamless investing and trading experiences. In line with this commitment, we introduced ‘I Know First’ in 2023 – an AI-powered tool empowering users with insights like signal analysis on a dataset of 1,500 Indian stocks and historical data. This tool provides access to AI-generated forecasts, along with features such as Colour-Coded Signals, Instant Heatmaps, Wave Trend Predictions, and Performance Predictions, enabling well-informed decisions.

Traditionally, comprehensive data and insights were accessible only to seasoned professionals, but Shoonya is changing the game by making these available to retail investors. This democratizes the trading process, thanks to the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies like AI and ML for an enhanced trading experience.

Furthermore, Shoonya stands out as the only true-zero brokerage platform in India. As a clearing and trading member, we offer the lowest cost to trade for retail investors. With approximately 16 services provided at no charge, including account opening and maintenance, we ensure transparency without hidden fees. This distinguishes us significantly from the competition, as users are not burdened with fees for each transaction.

Sarvjeet Virk: StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the fintech industry?

Sarvjeet Virk: Staying informed about the latest trends and developments within the industry is crucial. From newspapers and news channels to social media platforms, I rely on different channels to stay up-to-date on emerging trends. I keep a close eye on reports that delve into past reviews and future projections, particularly on the financial market, capital market, and technology. Staying proactive keeps me well-informed and prepared to navigate the dynamic landscape. Also, I spend time on various Industry reports that give current and future perspectives.

StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges Finvasia faced in the past year, and how did you overcome them?

Sarvjeet Virk: In 2023, we navigated through a year of challenges and opportunities. While it was generally a successful year for us, we faced an unexpected technical issue on our trading platform in April. Thanks to the quick response from our technical team, we promptly addressed and resolved the issue. In line with our commitment to providing an exceptional customer experience, we covered losses totaling Rs 3 crore. Our top priority remains ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining their trust. This action reflects our unwavering dedication to our vision and brand values.

StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack that you pulled off.

Sarvjeet Virk: Our marketing approach aligns with SEBI’s advertising guidelines for the finance sector, ensuring transparency and empowering users to make informed decisions. With a primary focus on digital channels, we effectively utilize social media and various platforms to engage diverse user groups, resulting in substantial growth. In November, we experienced a significant surge in new users, consistently ranking among the top 20 brokers for adding active clients monthly. The year 2023 marked an impressive 150% year-on-year growth attributed to our impactful digital marketing strategies.

To further enhance user knowledge, we regularly share educational and informative content on our social media channels. Additionally, we are in the process of establishing an education portal on our platform catering to both beginner and advanced users.

StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in the fintech industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?

Sarvjeet Virk: We witnessed a notable rise in the prominence of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2022, and its influence continued to grow globally in 2023. Looking forward to 2024, we anticipate that AI will evolve into a mainstream phenomenon, with a diverse range of applications becoming more prevalent. In the upcoming year, a significant development is expected in the integration of AI across various regional languages, aiming to achieve genuine last-mile reach. While complete coverage may be an ambitious goal, I believe initial steps will be taken to make this vision a reality.

The market dynamics in India have undergone a noticeable shift, especially in terms of capital market participation. Traditionally, there was a hesitancy among Indian individuals and businesses to actively engage in the capital markets. However, internet accessibility has brought a significant change in this trend. The widespread availability of online platforms has empowered more people in India to explore and participate in capital markets, marking a departure from past reservations.

Substantial differences emerge when comparing the capital market participation between India and other global players like China and the United States. As of 2023, the United States dominates the world stock market, accounting for nearly 60% of its total value, followed by Japan and the United Kingdom. In contrast, India represents a relatively modest 1.8% of the total global equity market value. At Shoonya, we are working towards enabling more users to participate in the capital market.

StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year, and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?

Sarvjeet Virk: The introduction of I Know First on our platform has garnered a positive response from users, highlighting its value. Recognizing the pivotal role AI will play in the near future, our office is currently experiencing a significant surge in AI-related initiatives. We’ve proactively initiated group learning sessions for the entire team, immersing them in the vast potential of AI. The enthusiasm within the team is palpable, and this collaborative learning approach has rapidly enhanced our understanding and application of AI in real-world scenarios. Beyond being educational, it’s an engaging and thrilling journey for all of us.

StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the customers, service offerings, and team base in the future?

Sarvjeet Virk: Finvasia has recently achieved significant milestones, obtaining an NBFC license in India and an investment bank license in Mauritius. These licenses are crucial for our ultimate goal of financial inclusion. Our proactive efforts in the past year involved developing new products around these licenses, although specific outcomes are still in progress. We are working towards building a global business from India, and international licenses play a crucial role in this strategy.

Additionally, our focus on AI goes beyond the predictive feature. We’re actively exploring additional ways to leverage AI to enhance the user experience. It ranges from enhancing onboarding journeys to in-app features. I’d like to save the details for when the features are live on the platform.

Another notable achievement is the establishment of Finvasia’s Mumbai office, complementing our existing base in Chandigarh. Our presence in the financial hub of the country aligns with a long-standing aspiration and contributes to our overall strategy for growth and expansion. As we look ahead, our focus remains on expanding our customer base, enhancing service offerings, and strengthening our team to further solidify Finvasia’s position in the financial landscape.

StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another service company founder?

Sarvjeet Virk: There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for building a successful business. My suggestion to a fellow founder would be that what worked for others may not be the ideal path for you. Reflecting on our own experience, many doubted the feasibility of establishing a successful FinTech firm in a smaller city like Chandigarh. However, we remained steadfast in our convictions and have achieved considerable success. The essential takeaway is to ignore external skepticism, concentrate on your unique journey, and rely on hard work, determination, and learning from mistakes to navigate the path toward your goals.

StartupTalky extends its gratitude to Mr. Sarvjeet Virk for dedicating his valuable time and generously sharing his insights with all of us.

Explore more Recap’23 Interviews here.

January 6, 2024
Top Startup Investing Platforms in India You Need to Know About
Today, the term ‘Startup’ is familiar to all of us. In the past few decades, startups have made every activity easy. There is an app for almost everything. You need groceries, clothes, in-home services, everything is just one click away.

A startup takes birth from a mere idea that comes out of passionate minds. For starters, it takes an idea, a team, and proper planning to begin with.

Along with all these, the most important thing in any startup is an investment. Sometimes, a small team can’t put in their savings and make it work. They need investment from outside sources as well.

Ordinary people can make an investment in a startup too as now, there are various platforms available where you can invest. In this way, you get a piece of the company and a share in profits in exchange for your investment.

What is a Startup?
What is Startup Investing?
Why should you Invest in Startups?
Startup Investing Platforms in India
What is a Startup?

In simple words, a startup is a company that is in the early stage of business. It is founded by one or more entrepreneurs. It is found that when an entrepreneur sees the demand for a product or service in the market and decides to produce or develop it.

Startups often need financing. The finance sources can be family and friends, bank loans, or crowdfunding. The founders can also take the help of venture capitalists for investment.

A startup comes with a high risk. There is a big possibility of failure on the one hand. On another, it can flourish well and turn out to be lucrative.

It offers a unique and challenging space for the whole team. The best part is that a startup is full of new ideas and innovations. This makes it a perfect learning space for new employees and interns.

What is Startup Investing?

Startup investing means investing in a company in its initial stage. You get equity, a part in ownership, and a share in future profits in exchange for your investment.

Investing in a startup at an early stage can be both profitable and loss-making. If the startup turns out to be a failure, then you lose your investment. If it flourishes, you will flourish in profit too.

For the most part, startups try to raise investments at an early stage. Investments can also be raised later when the startup is at a growing stage.

Startup investing can be risky. But nowadays, many people seem interested to take this risk. Considering the positive side, this risk can be of great worth.‌

Why should you Invest in Startups?

Number of Startup Investment Deals in India

Some of the reasons one should invest in startups are:
- Startup investing offers great growth potential. Indeed, it is risky but it can also be rewarding.
- Startup investing is a good idea because it gives you a sense of belief in a new idea.
- It helps you to contribute to an appealing idea that you want to see in the world.
- It helps to develop stronger personal connections. When you have a share in the startup, you feel more connected to it.
- One of the best reasons is that it gives a sense of fulfilment. Seeing an idea come to life with you being a part of it. It is a feeling so many people like to feel.
How to invest in startups in India?

Startup Investing Platforms in India

Today is the digital age. Digitalization has made fundraising or investing easier with the help of online platforms. It is now possible for ordinary people to invest in startups through crowdfunding sites. There are certain terms and conditions like fixed least amount, net worth, and income. Every platform has its own rules.

Here are some startup investing platforms in India:

Inflection Point Ventures

Founded in 2018, Inflection Point Ventures (IPV) is an early-stage angel investing platform.

The platform has grown from 100 investors to over 6,000 members today comprising CXOs, HNIs and top professionals. With IPV, one can start investing in startups with as low as Rs. 2.5L per startup. According to the recent Nasscom Indian Tech Startups Ecosystem report, IPV has emerged as one of the most active angel platforms in India.

IPV has investors across the globe in over 45 countries. Their robust proprietary 150+ due diligence parameters ensure deep evaluation and higher chances of success in invested startups. The platform has invested over Rs. 350 crores in 110+ startups. Some of the prominent startups they have invested in are BharatPe, Toch, BluSmart, Otipy, Phable and Uable.

LetsVenture

Lets Venture Homepage

LetsVenture is one of the leading startup investing platforms. The first beta of LetsVenture was launched in the year 2013. Shanti Mohan, entrepreneur and angel investor is the founder and CEO of LetsVenture.

It is a platform that connects startups with authorized investors. It makes the process of fundraising super easy and efficient for both investors and startups.

LetsVenture has helped 300 plus startups raise $200 Million in their initial stage. These funds are raised from 28 active syndicates, 6500 plus authorized investors, micro funds, and family offices.

AngelList India

AngelList India Homepage

AngelList is another great platform that connects startups with investors. It was founded in the year 2010, by Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi.

This idea began when the two founders made a list of 25 investors with whom they would share lucrative startups to invest in. They named this list ‘AngelList’.

AngelList has funded over 400+ startups with more than $2 Billion worth of investments. One has to qualify as an Eligible Angel Investor to invest here.

SeedInvest

SeedInvest Homepage

It is a crowdfunding platform that gives access to investors to invest in startups. SeedInvest is a reliable platform as it has a strict criterion for company selection. However, it is always good to have detailed research before investing.

Angel Investment Network

Angel Investment Network

Angel Investment Network is one of the leading startup investing platforms. It offers a variety of locations, industries, and investment sizes. This variety makes it a great marketplace for both startups and investors.

The best part is that you can register for free as an investor. Investors can directly message and chat with their desired entrepreneurs. This develops trust between both parties.

Indian Startup Ecosystem Rewind 2021 – The Year of Unicorns

Here’s a rewind of the year full of startup events, valuations, predictions and more. Let’s look at the events of the Indian startup ecosystem 2021.

StartupTalkyHarshit Verma

Conclusion

Startup investing is a super-risky business. It’s kind of like a gamble. No matter how detailed research one has conducted. We can never predict the exact success or failure of a startup.

One should not indulge themselves in it only for the sake of a share. One must be calculative and be prepared if their investment goes in vain.

Nowadays, people can invest in private equity funds that specialize in venture capital funding. This allows them to make an indirect investment in a startup.

In the end, startup investing often works on extremities. Either it makes huge profits or drains you of your entire investment.

FAQs

Which startup is best to invest in India?

Some of the best startups to invest in India in 2022 are:
- Meesho
- Infra
- PharmEasy
- CRED
- Groww
How can I become a startup investor in India?

Join a group of angel investors, Get involved with incubators and accelerators or you can also sign up on one of the startup investing platforms.

Which city is best for startups in India?

Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India and is known as the best city for Startups.

Which are the top Startup investing Platforms in India?

Top Startup investment Platforms in India:
- Inflection Point Ventures
- LetsVenture
- AngelList India
- SeedInvest
- Angel Investment Network
July 11, 2022

Success Story of Savart: Company That Helps You to Manage Your Investments

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Savart.

Everyone yearns to make money and get rich. But, you simply cannot become wealthy with that increased paycheck. It all boils down to wealth management. Dave Ramsey rightly says, “money moves from those who do not manage it to those who do.” Money management, however, is not so simple. It requires knowledge, observation, expertise, and patience.

Savart, a fintech startup by Sankarsh Chanda, is here to simplify investment management for you. Savart combines computing accuracy with the best of human intelligence. Savart advises over 100 crore rupees in assets and works with clients from over 30 countries. (As of January 2020)

This ensures easy, safe, and profitable investments through its award winning research methods. StartupTalky interviewed Savart CEO Sankarsh Chanda, who started the company when he was just 18!

Savart – Company Highlights

Startup name	Savart
Headquarters	Hyderabad
Founder	Sankarsh Chanda
Industry	Investment Management
Founded	2017
Registered Entity Name	Svobodha Infinity Pvt.Ltd
Total Funding	$644.9K

Savart – About
Savart – Industry Details
Savart – Founder And Team
Savart – The Idea And Launch
Savart – Name,Tagline, And Logo
Savart – Business Model And Revenue Model
Savart – Customer Acquisition
Savart – Funding
Savart – Challenges
Savart – Competitors
Savart – Achievements
Savart – Awards
Savart – Partners
Savart – Advisors And Mentors
Savart – Future Plans
Savart – FAQs

Savart – About

Savart is a wealth management platform that simplifies investing in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds both online and offline. Savart combines machine accuracy and human intelligence to help its customers invest in stocks and mutual funds wisely. The company has a research team that does paper-based analysis, meets the management of listed entities, talks to dealers, suppliers, and customers to find out the strength of the entities/firms and take investment decisions accordingly.

Upon signing on its platform, Savart prompts the users to fill an EFG (Emotional Financial General) form. After the EFG analysis, Savart suggests suitable investment options for the user based on their needs and expectations. The user can also manually research and invest in instruments without any guidance. There is the option for users to choose investment goals and Savart then shows combinations of mutual fund, SIP, and STP plans for achieving these goals.

Savart’s services include:

Suggesting investment portfolios based on one’s needs, goals, risk appetite, etc.
Facilitates subscription and redemption of units by transmitting user’s money and instructions to AMCs based on instructions given by the users.
Securing user’s personal and financial transactions related data.
Lets the users track their investments.
Facility to undertake ‘KYC’ requirements.

One can also access Savart’s services through the Savart app. The app is available for both android and ios as well as on the web. The Savart app has several interesting features and has received positive reviews from customers. One such feature is ‘round-up’. Through this facility, Savart stacks up its customers’ savings with loose change from every transaction and on the accumulation of a certain amount, the savings are invested into ETFs.

Savart strives to provide uncompromising advice and research to individuals and institutions irrespective of their quantum of investment. Savart envisions itself as an end-to-end investment services company that helps people realize their dreams & passion. Savart has its office in Hyderabad.

Savart – Industry Details

The asset management industry in India is one of the fastest growing segments in the world. Corporate investors AUM (Asset Under Management) stood at US$ 127.65 billion, while HNWIs (High Net Worth Individual) and retail investors reached US$ 99.05 billion and US$ 82.03 billion respectively in December 2018. India is among the top five countries in terms of HNWIs in the Asia-Pacific region.

The wealth management industry is likely to grow at 10-15% in the next five years.

Savart – Founder And Team

Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder and CEO of Savart.

Sankarsh founded Savart in 2017 when he was only 18 years old. He is a certified Research Analyst, investor, author and fund manager. Sankarsh’s book Financial Nirvana that he wrote when he was just seventeen, explains the art of investment and how to profitably manage one’s hard earned money.

Other core members of the Savart team are:

Aditya Ranade (Chief Investment Officer): Aditya worked with companies like RBS & Morgan Stanley before joining Savart.
Sridhar Vetapalem (Chief Financial Expert): He has 15+ years of fund management expertise.
Taruni Chandrasekhar (CFO): Taruni is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.
Pavan Kumar Kotamurthy (Research Analyst –Head): He is a Registered Investment Adviser, Research Analyst, MFD & ED certified, and was with NISM before joining Savart.
Prakash Raju (Rural Operations Head): He has 20+ years of expertise in rural marketing.

Savart – The Idea And Launch

The ideation happened when Sankarsh was only 14 years old. He read an article on“value investing” by Benjamin Graham which stressed on the importance of picking stocks trading for less than their intrinsic value for a profit opportunity. Sankarsh found the idea of value investing interesting and wanted to experiment with it. He convinced his elder sister and started trading through her Demat account. It began with just Rs 2000 that he got as a scholarship and saw his bets pay off quickly. Sankarsh continued thoroughly studying market trends and the balance sheets of different companies to build on his knowledge.

It was never an idea to startup or set up a company. It was a simple idea to give investment advice, build investment strategies and invest; over time, the idea of doing this at a scale and combining my philanthropic interests gave birth to Savart. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

Sankarsh started freelancing and drawing investment strategies for individual clients when he was just 16 years old. He was seventeen when the Savart founder published his first book, Financial Nirvana. Meanwhile, Sankarsh joined the B.Tech. course in Bennett University, Greater Noida.

Ajay Batra, the Director of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Bennett university gave Sankarsh the confidence to start his venture. Sankarsh invested the money he earned through various investments for launching Savart. He interviewed about 400 people from diverse economic backgrounds to understand customer requirements better before working on Savart.

Savart – Name, Tagline, and Logo

Savart stands for ‘The Art of Savings’.

Savart Logo

The reason we give importance to saving in our name is because it is the fundamental requirement before beginning to invest. And we believe it sounds good too. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

Savart’s tagline is ‘Dream Up.’ The tagline is a reflection of Savart’s commitment to helping people ‘live’ better dream bigger. Savart helps to make quick money in the share market. The company’s aim is to help people realize their dreams and passion. The current logo was finalized upon after some iterations and wasn’t a one-time outcome.

Savart – Business Model And Revenue Model

Savart’s services range from financial planning to investment advice and goal planning. Savart follows a simple revenue model; for the services provided, customers are charged as per the following plans:

For Investments between zero to 4,00,000, the charges are Rs.1299/- per annum.
For Investments exceeding INR. 4,00,000 , the charge comprises 0.5%(upfront fee)+ 3% of pre-tax net profits(performance fee).

The company charges 1-2% as commission for mutual fund investments.

Savart – Customer Acquisition

Savart’s initial set of customers came from the team’s families and business connects obtained through referrals. Constant communication with the clients, keeping them in the loop, regular feedback collection, and constant improvements to its online platforms are some of the measures Savart takes to retain customers and uphold client satisfaction.

Savart – Funding

Raising funds has been an enriching experience for the Savart team, as said my Sankarsh. On May 6, 2018, Savart raised $100K in funding. Savart raised seed funding of $544.9K in November, 2021.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investor
May 2018	Pre-seed	$100K	Undisclosed
November 2021	Seed	$544.9K	BEENEXT, Yatra Angel Network

Savart – Challenges

Investing in people and finding the right talent has been a pain-point. Savart has upskilled several individuals to get the maximum out of its team as well as to help its employees move up the progress ladder. Sankarsh mentions that like every other startup, Savart also has downtime and that’s when the team needs some extra motivation. The customer first mindset uplifts everyone in times of distress.

During our meetings, we have an empty chair and assume our customer is there, watching us work. This makes sure that we don’t get distracted or demotivated. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

The company never fails to celebrate milestones, no matter how big or small. These include feature release, team member induction, and positive customer feedback among others. Reaching out to the masses and help them invest and make money is Sankarsh’s personal motivation booster.

Savart – Competitors

There are many fintech startups that deal with stock, share and mutual funds investment. Some of the top competitors of Savart are:

Groww
Smallcase
Sqrrl

Savart seeks inspiration from different entities; it is inspired by companies like Zerodha in terms of reach and services, by the likes of Oaktree capital management in terms of their investment research and quality of the team. However, Savart differentiates itself from others through its deep-tech research, customer experience, and the niche customer segments it targets.

Savart – Achievements

Some significant achievements include:

Savart sold mutual funds worth Rs 3.5 crores and stocks worth Rs 2 crores within a month of launching its online platform.
The company is managing an AUM of around 100 crores.
Savart was featured as one of the most promising fintech startups in the world by Burnmark, London.

Savart – Awards

Savart has received the following awards:

SMC Startup pitch Award – Mumbai 2018
T20 Starpreneuer of the Year – Mumbai
Delhi – NCR TiECoN’s QGLUE Design Entrepreneur of the Year

Savart – Partners

Savart has partnered with Bombay Stock Exchange for mutual funds. It is also licensed as a Registered Investment Advisor by SEBI.

Savart is not a broker. So, it has partnered with Upstox, a Mumbai based discount broking firm , for final transactions. Savart is looking forward to partnerships with some other digital brokers. The startup is also in touch with banking correspondents to enhance its offline presence.

Savart – Advisors And Mentors

According to Sankarsh, a mentor is one who adds direction and motivation to the business, offers continuous constructive criticism, and helps build the right culture for the organization. Savart is being mentored by the following experts:

Ajay Batra: Mentor and Business Adviser, Director Bennett Hatchery, ex-Citibank. It was Mr. Batra who gave Sankarsh the confidence and support to think of entrepreneurship, and is mentoring Savart since day one.
Sandeep Kataria: Ex-Marketing Head, Voonik and CureFit.
Hemkumar Vajjha: Chief Technology Adviser MD, Impetus Solutions.
Venkat: Development Head – Tech, Impetus Solutions, 25+ years of tech expertise.

Savart – Future Plans

Savart is all set for expansion and growth. Savart’s major bucket list items for the future are:

Opening offline stores.
Installing automated investment machine. The machine will be set up as an offline kiosk and users will be able to make investments using a debit card or cheque.
Making the Savart platform available in languages like Hindi, Telugu, and Gujarati.

Savart – FAQs

Who is the CEO of Savart?

Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder & CEO of Savart.

How much is the Net worth of Savart?

Savart net worth is 100 crore rupees in assets (As of January 2020).

What is Savart?

Who is Sankarsh Chanda?

Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder & CEO of Savart. He also launched Stardour – a SpaceTech company.

January 18, 2022

Assetmonk: Disrupting & Simplifying Grade-A Real Estate Investments in India Via Fractional Ownership

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Assetmonk.

Traditionally, real estate investments have always been a part of Indian investing trends. It was a custom to own a house for rental purposes, and pass it on to the next generation or sell it for a profit and continue the loop. But, the thought of investing in commercial real estate rarely occurs. Some prominent reasons for this might be large ticket sizes (commercial real estate assets come with a heavy price burden), lack of awareness about quality real estate assets, and the time-taking process of asset management.

Being one of the highest yielding asset classes, the core team of Assetmonk had a pressing question – why should everyday investors, who proactively invest in stocks, mutual funds, gold, etc, be denied a chance to invest in commercial real estate?

As an attempt to offer a solution, Assetmonk, a wealth-tech platform, was founded in 2019 to popularize a new alternative investment class and democratize commercial real estate investing with fractional ownership. A concept that is new to the Indian market and holds immense potential to disrupt the investing habits of Indians. Driven by Surya Pulagam and Prudhvi Chinta, the startup has now become a thought leader in the industry with asset-backed wealth management. They have now made commercial real estate investments possible with a budget of just INR 10 lakhs and upwards, with a promise of higher returns. In this article, you’ll discover how Assetmonk was conceptualized, its growth, future plans, business model, funding, and more.

Assetmonk – Company Highlights

Company Name	Assetmonk
Headquarter	Hyderabad
Founder/s Name	Surya Pulagam, Prudhvi Chinta
Industry	Fractional ownership / commercial real estate investment
Founding Year	2019
Website	assetmonk.com
Registered Entity Name	Assetmonk Properties Pvt Ltd

Assetmonk – About and Vision

Assetmonk offers carefully vetted assets that are customized to meet the objectives of different investors. Its objective-oriented products are designed to cover a large spectrum of investors with different objectives, may it be value appreciation, regular passive income, or diversification of risk. Assetmonk’s real estate investment plans go through strict due diligence and expert evaluation to make the investment process as secure and safe as possible.

The vision behind Assetmonk is simple – to transform the largest and the oldest asset class to become more investment-friendly and make real estate investments accessible to more and more investors. Due to the high-ticket sizes, unavailability of reliable instrument vehicles, and enough knowledge, the high-quality assets and deals with higher returns have remained elusive for most regular investors for a very long time. Hence, Assetmonk works to break the stereotype and make real estate investments a smooth and transparent experience for every investor.

Assetmonk – Industry Details

The industry will move towards transparency, structured processes, and disruptive regulations like RERA that are boosting investment deals. The fractional real estate market opens doors for small investors and builders to promote growth and unlock value both for the investors and the owners, which worked out in countries like the USA. The Indian market is witnessing similar growth, with the help of REITS, building stability and attractiveness to commercial real estate.

Assetmonk – Idea & Inspiration

The real estate sector in India has always been unstructured and unorganized. Yet, it’s one of the largest asset classes that lack educational awareness. With more than a decade of experience in the sector, dealing with large fund houses and the numerous interactions with smaller investors, they now have an understanding that there is a need for a platform to simplify the complex and opaque transactions that dominate the market with a data-driven approach. Assetmonk is determined to streamline the selection process, democratize commercial asset classes and good quality deals for smaller investors.

The startup simplifies asset acquisition on the basis of a 100 point checklist called AssetScan, ensuring transparency, responsiveness, and eliminating the chaos associated with asset management.

Assetmonk prides itself on being a thought leader in real estate investment and asset-backed wealth management. This expertise came as a result of thorough market research by interacting with potential investors/NRI, buyers, and commercial builders. The initial response, once Assetmonk went to the market last year, was promising, which pushed it to expand further.

Assetmonk – Product and USP

The primary vision behind setting up Assetmonk was making Real Estate Investments enjoyable and easier to understand for investors with smaller ticket sizes but aspire for great quality returns or don’t have the time/ awareness for the same.

Assetmonk provides a reliable and investor-friendly tech platform that is accessible to all investors and strives to democratize real estate investments. It strives to bring high-end commercial real estate properties on the platform which would be inaccessible to independent investors otherwise. To the team at Assetmonk, every investor’s investment comfort is very important to them. To serve their needs, the startup offers a broad spectrum of investment opportunities to investors. At the end of the day, Assetmonk does all the hard work wherein the investors only reap the rewards of their returns hassle-free while tracking the investment performance through an intuitive dashboard.

Few of the points that make Assetmonk stand out –

A thorough 100-point due diligence process for asset listing
A diverse product portfolio for investors with different risk propensity
Robust dashboard for real-time updates and tracking
Efficient asset management till the exit/sale for a favorable value
All compliances and transactions are managed by the platform
Data Analytics led investment decisions

Assetmonk – Founders and Team

Assetmonk is the brainchild of Surya Pulagam. After his successful stint as the Managing Director at Electronics Art, he set up the Incor Group along with a partner from the previous stint. After scaling up the real estate entity to a large size, he went on to set up other entities including a health care chain and a coliving firm. Surya felt the need to transform the real estate industry in India by bringing order to the chaos and democratizing it through technology and fractional ownership. Together with Prudhvi Chinta as the COO of Assetmonk, who is passionate about bringing the technology to the idea, the duo aims to make commercial real estate accessible to everyone and optimize asset management.

Presently, Assetmonk functions as a separate business with 30 employees and a presence in three Indian metropolitan cities, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai.

Assetmonk – Name, Tagline and Logo

Real estate is driven a lot by the market sentiments and many times does not follow the proven method of due diligence, information assimilation, and an objective decision. Hence, there is a need for someone knowledgeable and objective, like a monk. Thus, the name Assetmonk in real estate resonates with a team of experts working in the background, powering the monk to help people make smart investment decisions.

Tagline – ‘Growing together’ symbolizes fractional ownership.
Logo – Sections of a pie also symbolize fractional ownership and the value of sharing.

Assetmonk – Logo and Tagline

Assetmonk – Startup Launch

The initial plan was to go about with physical on-ground events, but COVID-19 shifted the team’s focus to digital practices to find interesting investors and help them invest and track their investments. Other sources of business are a strong partner network, re-investments from existing investors, and referrals. The repeat interactions indicate the investor’s satisfaction level and put the team in the confident spot in terms of the business direction taken.

Assetmonk’s strategy is quite straightforward. No compromise attitude towards selecting the quality assets, relentless focus on investor returns and security, customer service, and transparency (sharing updates about investments via asset tracking dashboard). The team ensures attractive returns and profit margins, seamless investor and post-investment experience, and absolute investor relationship management.

Assetmonk – Challenges Faced

Stepping into an unorganized sector, the startup’s major challenge was establishing trust and bringing awareness about this modern ideology of real estate investment, as opposed to traditional investing models that the public is accustomed to but unhappy with.

Assetmonk – Business Model & Revenue Model

To sustain the functions, Assetmonk’s revenue model consists of asset management fees and performance fees on exit. Assetmonk eliminates the hassle of property ownership by being involved from the start to the end, right from discovery to exit. Apart from an asset management fee, a performance fee is levied on the profit earned from the rental proceedings of the property.

Assetmonk – Funding and Investors

Assetmonk has raised funds from a strategic investor, who brings in a good amount of domain expertise and access to the assets to the table and fits in well as a long-term partner.

Assetmonk – Achievements

The participation of investors from multiple countries, a channel partner network, and a very healthy reinvestment rate stands as a testimony for Aseetmonk’s progress.

The latest addition is The Landing, India’s first-ever co-living venture at Hyderabad International Airport, where it designed the investment structure, educated the audience, and came on board as asset managers in the long term. It’s an aesthetically designed infrastructure with top-notch amenities like a microbrewery, health clubs, co-working space, F&B, and abundant networking opportunities.

Assetmonk – FAQs

What is Assetmonk?

Assetmonk prides itself on being a thought leader in real estate investment and asset-backed wealth management. It strives to bring high-end commercial real estate properties on the platform which would be inaccessible to independent investors otherwise.

Who is the founder of Assetmonk?

Surya Pulagam and Prudhvi Chinta are the founders of Assetmonk.

How does Assetmonk make money?

Assetmonk’s revenue model consists of asset management fees and asset performance fees.

What is the tagline of Assetmonk?

‘Growing Together’ is the tagline of Assetmonk. It symbolizes fractional ownership.

November 30, 2021

Aladdin Software Managing $21 Trillion: The Investment Management Giant
A business is not just about buying and selling a product or service. It is much more than that. For a business to run properly, everything needs to be on point, for that management is necessary.

In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that management is necessary for every step of a business. The most important factor in this is to manage the financial assets, risk, and other investments of the business.

From financial planning to look after bonds and equity of investors, it includes everything. Now, we all know business and risk go hand in hand. Therefore, in a business apart from investment management, risk management is also required.

Risk management is all about recognizing and controlling those venturing threats that can affect the organization’s financial assets. It is mostly done to protect the company from harm and its future. Risk management makes the work environment safe.

Now, thanks to technological advances, this also can be done by software. This article talks about the biggest investment and risk management software, BlackRock Aladdin.

“Wealth is only a benefit of the game of money. If you win, the money will be there.”

-Paul Getty

About Aladdin Software
How does Blackrock Aladdin Work?
Interesting Features of Aladdin
Top Companies that use Aladdin
FAQ

What is Blackrock Aladdin?

No, as the name suggests, it is not related to Aladdin and the magic lamp from the Arabian Nights. Although the work it does is not less than that of a genie fulfilling wishes. Aladdin (Asset, Liability, Debt, and Derivative Investment Network) is a system whose work is to keep an eye on the markets and stop anything going wrong.

It connects people and technology together to manage funds. It is part of BlackRock, Inc an American global, Investment Management Company. This system was found after BlackRock’s was founded in the year 1988. In the year 2000, Aladdin was introduced as a system for investment management user

This software works with thousands of computers for 34 hours and is continuously striving to manage the financial ecosystem of the world.

Interestingly, Aladdin was first created to handle BlackRock’s business. Now, apart from BlackRock, it is used by different clients of BlackRock’s to manage their investments.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, the demand for Aladdin has surged all over the world and it has now become one of the most important parts of the investment management industry in the world.

How does Blackrock Aladdin Work?

The system is involved in portfolio management to risk management; it’s all about providing a smooth investment process to the client with the help of a number of computers and people. With the tools required for portfolio management like trading, operation, and accounting, it gives out proper risk analytics.

Aladdin gives out powers through its tools to the user so that they can communicate efficiently and if any problem arises, they can solve it quickly during the investment process.

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Interesting Features of Aladdin

Some of the features that make Aladdin different and unique are:
- Over 55,000 investment workers are connected with Aladdin and depended on it.
- It has more than 240 clients all over the world.
- Thanks to the existence of this brilliant software, it eliminates the need for paperwork.
- Eradicate excessive repair costs of machines.
- This software provides the facility of trading bonds without the need of a middleman.
- The software manages the wealth of some of the biggest companies.
- The software contains a centralized database.
- Aladdin contains a climate risk reporting app, that notifies if there is any risk that can be caused by climate change to their portfolio.
Top Companies that use Aladdin

Genworth Financial

This is an insurance company founded in the year, 2004 by Dave Reedy. Aladdin manages Genworth Financial, along with eFront, another software that manages the alternative investment, it keeps an eye on risk management and asset allocation of the company.

Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae is an enterprise that deals with mortgage financing. It was founded by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938; its main motive is to create a sustainable housing finance system. In 2015, Fannie Mae associated itself with Aladdin.

Macquarie

The global financial service deals with asset management, wealth management; principal investment were founded in 1969 by Stan Owens. Macquarie has taken up Aladdin in the team for their asset management.

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Conclusion

The capability of the software Aladdin by BlackRock can be seen since the 2008 financial crisis. It has become the world’s most powerful risk management system and some of the largest enterprises are dependent on it. Needless to say by managing $21 trillion and counting, it is ruling the investment management industry of the world.

FAQ

Is Aladdin a Part of BlackRock?

Yes, Aladdin is an electronic system for investment management by BlackRock.

Who is the CEO of BlackRock?

Laurence Douglas Fink is the CEO of BlackRock.

Which companies use BlackRock Aladdin?

Genworth Financial, Fannie Mae, and Macquarie are some of the top companies that use BlackRock Aladdin.
October 5, 2021

WealthDesk – B2B2C Investment Technology Platform

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by WealthDesk.

WealthDesk is India’s pioneering B2B2C platform that captures the entire Investment/Asset Management/Advisory value chain from portfolio creation on top of Equities and ETFs which are productized into investment products called WealthBaskets.

WealthDesk is driving the Investment product side innovation in India. It has 50+ partners who leverage WealthDesk’s platform to realign their broking and advisory offerings. This includes renowned full-service brokers such as Motilal Oswal, JM Financial, Anand Rathi, Prabhudas Lilladher, among others. As a B2B2C SaaS platform in this space, WealthDesk can get B2B on its platform and create a bigger ecosystem at scale.

StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Ujjwal Jain (Founder & CEO, WealthDesk) to get an insight on the Success Story of WealthDesk. Know all about WealthDesk’s founding team, how it started, growth, future plans & more in this article ahead!

WealthDesk – Company Highlights

Startup Name	WealthDesk
Founders	Ujjwal Jain (CEO), Yuvraj Thakker (Co-founder & NED)
Founding Year	2016 (Went Live in 2018)
Headquarters	Mumbai
Sector	Fintech/Investment Platform
Website	wealthdesk.in

About WealthDesk
WealthDesk – Founders and Team
WealthDesk Ideation Journey – How it Started?
WealthDesk – Product and USP
WealthDesk – Challenges Faced
WealthDesk – Growth and Current Status
WealthDesk – Future Plans
WealthDesk – FAQs

About WealthDesk

WealthDesk is a B2B2C Investment Technology platform founded in 2016. WealthDesk enables portfolio-based investing on top of stocks and ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) consolidating advisory, broking, asset, and wealth management ecosystem. It is India’s pioneering B2B2C platform that captures the entire Investment/Asset Management/Advisory value chain from portfolio creation on top of Equities and ETFs which are productized into investment products called WealthBaskets; WealthBaskets are enabled for large scale distribution through broking partners with strong network effects.

Its goal is to make sure all big and small brokers in the country are integrated on the WealthDesk platform on the transaction side (‘UPI’zation of Broking industry) and on the Advisory front, it wants to have some of the Best advisors’ Investment Products (WealthBaskets) on the WealthDesk platform.

With this dual strategy, WealthDesk drives the Investment product side innovation in India on top of Equities and ETFs (beyond Mutual Funds) and build a highly scalable distribution network for distributing these products at scale through the Broking ecosystem. The team is also pretty keen on focusing on the first-time investors as they are digitally savvy and will appreciate the benefits of the advised wealth management.

WealthDesk – Founders and Team

Ujjwal Jain is the founder and CEO of WealthDesk. Yuvraj Thakker is the Co-founder of WealthDesk.

WealthDesk Ideation Journey – How it Started?

Reminiscing the journey towards inception of WealthDesk, Ujjwal Jain (Founder & CEO of WealthDesk) says –

“I have almost a decade’s experience of working in the fund management industry. During my working tenure with DE Shaw (Wall Street based Hedge Fund), I got an opportunity to shift to Mumbai for a strategic India focused stint, this made me realize the massive India FinTech opportunity in asset management, fund management, advisory and broking. With it, I also realized that while I had demonstrated capabilities in the technology-driven active hedge fund industry, I needed to deep dive into how the Index/ETF-based passive industry works. I then took on a role with the MSCI Mumbai office and worked closely with the MSCI Geneva office which drives the Index business globally.

In less than two years, I was able to work with the research and products team globally to launch multiple Smart Beta Indices. I also worked on setting up the technology platform for launching ESG based Indices that hold a lot of prominence now. Around the same time, I was also a part of a global team looking to platformize/productize Index manufacturing at scale to reduce turnaround time with clients and compete with new technology focused fintech competitors in Index space. Having built a strong institutional and in-depth understanding of both active and passive funds, I felt ready to explore the Fintech opportunity in India.

During the research phase about India, I met several brokers and asset managers in Mumbai to understand their challenges and that of the sector at large. That’s when I clearly saw how technology could address most of the challenges that they are facing, and I began working towards it. During my research phase, I also met Yuvraj, who runs a Brokerage house as a third-generation stakeholder.

We met several times and spent hours/days together in 2015, where Yuvraj gave a sense of the current challenges in Broking and Asset Management Industry as a legacy broker and I could look at these same problems with a complete modern Computer Science mindset. Eventually, we were able to create a roadmap to build WealthDesk platform ecosystem, that incorporated the startup Wealth Technology and Services Private Limited. Yuvraj provided a strong incubation ground within his brokerage house to launch and test the platform between a closed user group.

We were clear that we wanted to build the platform first. We were sure that once we built a platform that addressed the needs of the industry, we would get customers. So, we began building a B2B2C platform ecosystem for advisors, research houses getting into advisory, brokers and investors on AWS. With its strong Start-up network, constant innovation on cloud, a strong presence in India with a vibrant developer community made AWS our default choice from day 1. It took three years for the team to work and build the platform. In 2018, WealthDesk went live. The team then spent the next year getting brokers and advisors on the platform. Today, WealthDesk is India’s pioneering SaaS-based Neo AMC platform that powers advisory, broking, wealth management, and portfolio management to retail investors at scale.

I believe that AWS has been a key enabler in our success story. Even without offering financial services, AWS has played an instrumental role in reshaping India’s financial landscape. AWS is the technological backbone of many FinTech companies, including WealthDesk, where product innovation through engineering is the integral component of value creation”

WealthDesk – Product and USP

The product is the WealthDesk platform and it provides two key offerings – For the retail investors and businesses. WealthDesk is a B2B2C Platform ecosystem with one single SaaS offering of Business platform and multiple WealthDesk Consumer SaaS Deployment(B2C) for Brokers and Advisors.

WealthDesk Business along with WealthDesk Consumer platform ecosystem enables Brokers, SEBI Registered Investment Advisors, Portfolio Managers, Research Analysts to manufacture and distribute their Stock/ETFs research as an Investable Portfolio called WealthBasket and distribute to Retail Investors through an ever expanding WealthDesk Consumer multi-broker ecosystem with seamless execution.

WealthDesk solves the problem of retail investors, who look at markets with wealth creation goals. It helps them understand where and how to invest smartly and avoid mis-selling and wrong choices. Given it is still a push-based product, the journey to get first time investors into markets or making someone build a habit for moving savings into investments following a process and with discipline is difficult. Lot of effort needs to be made in that direction as an ecosystem.

These challenges were met by bringing better Investment Products (WealthBaskets) in Indian markets that were beyond Mutual Funds for retail Investors on top of SEBI Registered Investment Advisory and Research Analyst licenses using Stocks and ETFs. The objective behind WealthDesk is to serve first time to seasoned investors with products previously accessible in the form of investable instruments. Also, drive the future of Digital Asset and Wealth management in India at scale and penetrate markets to a large extent across India.

Traditionally investors, brokers and their research & advisory arms, SEBI registered advisors and research houses used to work in silos. This model of engagement does not allow them to serve retail investors and traders with right research and portfolio strategies thus leading to suboptimal returns, misalignment of goals/incentives and is operationally non-scalable to build assets under advisory businesses on top of Equities and ETFs, etc.

Since 2013, regulators like SEBI had already started focusing on bringing transparency in advisory based distribution and streamlining the role of brokers as distributors and the recent draft of this circular (October 2020) is one of the steps in this direction to bring in more transparency, alignment. WealthDesk is pre-empting the eventuality of the industry by offering a platform powered investment instrument called WealthBaskets on top of Equities and ETFs to drive research and advisory based portfolios distribution to retail investors on top of broking. This innovation is the USP of WealthDesk.

WealthDesk – Challenges Faced

Key challenges faced by the team initially was hiring top Engineering talent to build such a deep tech platform in Capital Markets based out of Mumbai. Once a great team was established, there was no looking back.

Another challenge as well as the opportunity was to make brokers, advisors in the country look at this changing landscape and realize the future and opportunity through the founding team’s lens/vision. Once that was done, WealthDesk began growing organically, with zero sales and marketing spend till now.

Yet another challenge was to make retail investors look at markets with wealth creation goals and understand where and how to invest smartly and avoid mis-selling and wrong choices. Given it is still a push-based product, the journey to get first time investors into markets or making someone build a habit for moving savings into investments following a process and with discipline is difficult. Lot of effort needs to be made in that direction as an ecosystem. But that is an opportunity also by creating a nudge-based user journey as a platform, provide right content and marketing push to bring the necessary behavioral change. Another opportunity is that as a B2B2C SaaS platform in this space, WealthDesk can get B2B on its platform and create a bigger ecosystem at scale.

These challenges were overcome by bringing better Investment Products (WealthBaskets) in Indian markets that were beyond Mutual Funds for retail Investors on top of SEBI Registered Investment Advisory and Research Analyst licenses using Stocks and ETFs. The objective behind WealthDesk is to serve first time to seasoned investors with products previously accessible in the form of investable instruments. Also, drive the future of Digital Asset and Wealth management in India at scale and penetrate markets to a large extent across India.

WealthDesk – Growth and Current Status

WealthDesk ended Calendar year 2020 with 20 broker and advisor partners. It has nearly doubled the number of partners in Q1 of 2021.

Currently, WealthDesk has 50+ partners who have leveraged WealthDesk’s platform to realign their broking and advisory offerings around SmartBeta, Factor based Thematics, Sectoral, Asset Allocation based ETF WealthBaskets that are driving a new product ecosystem.

This includes renowned full-service brokers such as Motilal Oswal, JM Financial, Anand Rathi, Prabhudas Lilladher, among others.

Some of the leading investment advisors such as Quantech Capital (OpenQ), Finmo, Renaissance Investment Managers, Tamohara, Wright Research, etc. are on WealthDesk.

WealthDesk has also integrated with discount brokers such as ICICI Direct, Zerodha and Upstox that allows their users to directly login on WealthDesk.in and invest in WealthBaskets.

WealthDesk has also seamlessly integrated with 63 moon’s ODIN trading platform; this platform powers 800+ brokers. This partnership brings Advisory based Value Added Broking to all such brokers in a plug and play model.

WealthDesk – Future Plans

WealthDesk’s focus for the future has always been on expanding beyond mutual funds and portfolio management services. With the support and help from its partners, the team believes that they can drive the future of investing in Indian capital markets.

WealthDesk – FAQs

What is WealthDesk?

Who are the founders of WealthDesk?

Ujjwal Jain is the founder and CEO of WealthDesk. Yuvraj Thakker is the Co-founder of Wealth Desk.

What is WealthBasket?

When was WealthDesk founded?

WealthDesk was founded in 2016. The WealthDesk platform went live in 2018.

May 19, 2021

Tag: investment platform

Lalit Keshre – Biography

Lalit Keshre – Early Life and Education

Lalit Keshre – Career Highlights of Lalit Keshre

Founding and Scaling Groww

Unicorn Status and Funding Milestones

Product Diversification and Innovation

Strategic Acquisitions

Leadership During Industry Challenges

Advocacy for Financial Literacy

Recognition as a Thought Leader

Global Expansion Vision

Lalit Keshre – Awards and Industry Recognition

Lalit Keshre – Philanthropy

Lalit Keshre – Personal Life

Facts About Lalit Keshre

Lalit Keshre – Impact on the Financial Landscape

FAQs

Who is Lalit Keshre?

What is Lalit Keshre education?

When was Groww founded?

StartupTalky: What service does Finvasia provide? What was the motivation/vision with which you started?

StartupTalky: What new services have been added in the past year? What is/are the USP/s of Finvasia?

Sarvjeet Virk: StartupTalky: How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the fintech industry?

StartupTalky: What were the most significant challenges Finvasia faced in the past year, and how did you overcome them?

StartupTalky: What are the different strategies you use for marketing? Tell us about any growth hack that you pulled off.

StartupTalky: What opportunities do you see for future growth in the fintech industry in India and the world? What kind of difference in market behavior have you seen between India and the world?

StartupTalky: What lessons did your team learn in the past year, and how will these inform your future plans and strategies?

StartupTalky: How do you plan to expand the customers, service offerings, and team base in the future?

StartupTalky: One tip that you would like to share with another service company founder?

What is a Startup?

What is Startup Investing?

Why should you Invest in Startups?

Startup Investing Platforms in India

Inflection Point Ventures

LetsVenture

AngelList India

SeedInvest

Angel Investment Network

Conclusion

FAQs

Which startup is best to invest in India?

How can I become a startup investor in India?

Which city is best for startups in India?

Which are the top Startup investing Platforms in India?

Savart – Company Highlights

Savart – About

Savart’s services include:

Savart – Industry Details

Savart – Founder And Team

Savart – The Idea And Launch

Savart – Name, Tagline, and Logo

Savart – Business Model And Revenue Model

Savart – Customer Acquisition

Savart – Funding

Savart – Challenges

Savart – Competitors

Savart – Achievements

Savart – Awards

Savart – Partners

Savart – Advisors And Mentors

Savart – Future Plans

Savart – FAQs

Who is the CEO of Savart?

How much is the Net worth of Savart?

What is Savart?

Who is Sankarsh Chanda?

Assetmonk – Company Highlights

Assetmonk – About and Vision

Assetmonk – Industry Details

Assetmonk – Idea & Inspiration

Assetmonk – Product and USP

Assetmonk – Founders and Team

Assetmonk – Name, Tagline and Logo

Assetmonk – Startup Launch

Assetmonk – Challenges Faced

Assetmonk – Business Model & Revenue Model

Assetmonk – Funding and Investors

Assetmonk – Achievements

Assetmonk – FAQs