Scripbox raises Rs 151 Cr in round led by existing investor Accel Partners

Scripbox is a solution that helps working professionals invest in mutual funds through its online platform.

Wealth management startup Scripbox has raised Rs 151 crore as a part of its Series C funding led by existing investor Accel Partners, along with participation from Omidyar Network, and NLI Investment Fund, according to filings from Registrar of Companies.

Started by veterans in the finance space, Scripbox is a solution that helps working professionals invest in mutual funds through its online platform. Further, the platform has a variety of investment plans focussing on tax returns and future returns. It adopts a scientific methodology for recommending the right portfolio of mutual funds.

Bengaluru-based Scripbox faces direct competition from players like Nivesh, Groww, Orowealth and Sqrrl who have raised early-stage rounds of approximately $1 million. Further, the wealth management space has been heating up with payment players including Paytm, MobiKwik and PhonePe already entering the space.

In September, last year, Paytm launched its direct mutual funds investment platform (app) Paytm Money. The platform kickstarted with close to 25 AMCs and more than 850,000 users registering for early access.

While Gurugram-based MobiKwik entered the wealth management space with the acquisition of mutual fund platform Clearfunds in October last year. The Clearfunds app and website will be integrated with MobiKwik’s to offer wealth management services to customers.

Flipkart-owned PhonePe, on the other hand, started its own wealth management arm, PhonePe Wealth Services Pvt. Ltd. in November, last year and will be based out of PhonePe’s Bengaluru headquarters.

Even India’s largest brokerage firm Zerodha launched its direct mutual fund platform, Coin, in March 2017, and had close to Rs 1,100 crore in assets under management, around May last year.

And the investments in wealth management startups have gone up significantly over the years.

In 2016, wealth management startups had raised almost close to $17.8 million, while the figure for 2018 stood at around $70 million.