[Funding alert] Fintech startup Grip Invest raises $3M in Series A round

Financial technology startup Grip Invest raised $3 million in a Series A funding round led by Venture Highway and Endiya Partners, the startup said on Wednesday.

Other investors such as AdvantEdge, existing investors, including Anicut Angel Fund and Gemba Capital, and angels such as Satyen Kothari (Founder of Cube Wealth and Citrus Pay), Gaurav Gupta (Chief Business Officer, Cube Wealth), Akash Sinha and Reeju Datta (Co-founders of Cashfree), and Ankit Agarwal (CFO of Navi Technologies ) and FMS Launchpad also participated in the round.

"Mass-affluent retail investors in India are greatly underserved - other alternatives like P2P or revenue-based financing typically do not have the risk-adjusted returns that asset-backed products on Grip provide. There is a strong need for a platform like Grip..," said Samir Sood, Founder, Venture Highway — one of the firms that have invested in the Gurugram-based startup.

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Founded by Nikhil Aggarwal and Vivek Gulati, Grip Invest is a fintech platform that helps investors invest their money in new-age, asset-back investment options. So far, it has facilitated around Rs 75 crore in investments and has over 80,000 retail investors.

It plans to use the capital raised to expand the range of the investment products it offers, launch new features for users, and strengthen its team.

The startup hopes to facilitate Rs 1,000 crore in investments by September 2022, it said.

"While fintech has revolutionised how we think about payments, stock-investing, loyalty rewards, and money transfers, 99 percent of retail investors are still left with just two investment options — fixed deposits and mutual funds. Grip’s mission is to change the way Indians think about investing and facilitate wealth creation opportunities with healthy diversified portfolios," Nikhil said in a press statement.

At present, the startup has a retail investor base in around 42 countries and 322 cities globally. It has facilitated 30-plus companies, including Udaan, Furlenco, Vogo, FabAlley, and BlueTokai, among others, to access a different channel of growth capital.

Grip Invest has raised $3.6 million (Rs 27 crore) in total funding so far.