Personal financial services company Arthayantra Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand ArthaYantra, has raised an undisclosed amount in seed capital from WFA Global Investments, a US-based investment firm. The company offers retail financial services and investment management solutions.
The firm is also in talks for another larger round of institutional funding and is in talks with a US-based hedge fund, the company’s co-founder and CEO Nitin B Vyakaranam told VCCircle.
“In the next six months to twelve months, we are expecting to open new offices in Bangalore and Delhi,” he said.
The company is founded by a group of ISB Hyderabad alumni in 2006 and has a 25 member team. It is based in Hyderabad with an affiliate office in the US. The firm is planning to expand operations in other major cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.
ArthaYantra is focused on launching its new solutions and is currently engaged in increasing its financial research capabilities by building systems and processes based on existing patents that it holds. It is also piloting its personal finance products in beta to select group of customers.
Apart from investment services, the company supports personal financial decisions of its clients and their families. Some of their services include financial advice such as buying a house, marriage of children, adding a child to the family, dependents with special needs, education and retirement planning. The company focuses more on the retail client and charges Rs 7,500 as yearly fee and one per cent of the asset under management as fee.
While, Ravi Bhagavatula, managing director of WFA Global Investments said, “With the backbone of patented and scalable personal finance solutions along with its disruptive business model, ArthaYantra has the potential to achieve global scale. The Indian market has a promising middle of pyramid opportunity and ArthaYantra could prove to be a game changer in the personal finance industry.”
WFA Global Investments is a specialised investment firm based in the New York. Its affiliates focus on delivering client-centric financial services in emerging markets or specialise in structuring financial risk and operational management of global funds and socially responsible investments.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)