[Funding alert] Tiger Global invests $25M in online stock broking startup Upstox
In a statement, Ratan Tata and Kalaari Capital-backed company said, the funds will be deployed towards charting the next growth wave for Upstox and strengthening its product offerings and technology stack.
![[Funding alert] Tiger Global invests $25M in online stock broking startup Upstox](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/2/b87effd06a6611e9ad333f8a4777438f/upstox1569495140585jpg?mode=crop&crop=faces&ar=2%3A1&format=auto&w=1920&q=75)
Mumbai-based online stock broking startup Upstox raised $25 million in its second round of institutional funding from New York-based investor Tiger Global.
Founded in 2009 by Shrini Viswanath, Raghu Kumar and Ravi Kumar, the RKSV Securities-owned firm had last secured $4 million in 2016.
In a statement, Ratan Tata and Kalaari Capital-backed company said, the funds will be deployed towards charting the next growth wave for Upstox and strengthening its product offerings and technology stack. The company will invest in building a strong team and also plans to expand its presence in Delhi and Bangalore.
Ravi Kumar (L), CEO and Co-founder and Shrini Viswanath, CTO and Co-founder
![[Funding alert] Fintech startup Groww raises $21.4M in Series B from Ribbit Capital, Sequoia, Y...](https://images.yourstory.com/cs/wordpress/2018/02/L-R-Ishan-Bansal-Lalit-Keshre-Neeraj-Singh-Harsh-Jain.jpg?fm=png&auto=format&h=100&w=100&crop=entropy&fit=crop)
The startup also plans to double its workforce to 300 from the current 180 full-time employees. Its platform allows retail investors to trade in the equity market and claims to contribute over three percent of the national trades conducted across exchanges in India.
Ravi Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Upstox, said,
“Currently, 70 percent of our customers are from Tier-II and Tier-III cities in India. Our vision is to cater to the next 500 million Indians going online for all their financial services needs. We are focused on building India’s largest financial services brand, and are extremely excited to have Tiger Global partner with us on this journey.”
Along with stock trading, it also offers advisory services and mutual fund investments as well. At present, Upstox has around 300,000 clients.
Going forward, the startup is targeting to get new-generation Indians to invest more actively in the stock markets. It aims to invest in attractive products to get more customers from small cities and towns in India.
Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global Management said,
“The retail brokerage industry in India is highly underpenetrated and we are excited to partner with Ravi and the Upstox team as they work to make investing in India easier and more accessible. The market opportunity is large and growing and we believe Upstox is well- positioned to gain market share over time.”
Upstox competes with the likes of a bootstrapped venture Zerodha, which reported a revenue of Rs 850 crore, and a profit of Rs 350 crore in FY19. It has 1.5 million customers and 600,000 daily users.
Paytm Money, another player in the investment space, recently secured Rs 40 crore funding from One97 Communications, to further expand the mutual funds business and step into new verticals like stock trading and NPS within this financial year.
Earlier this week, Bengaluru-based wealth management platform Groww also received $21.4 million as a part of its Series B funding round led by US-based VC firm Ribbit Capital along with participation from existing investors Sequoia India and Y Combinator. The company helps users invest in mutual funds directly and has more than 2.5 million users across India.
(Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta)
