Grip Invest, an investing platform, has raised Rs 21 crore ($3 million) in Series A round led by Venture Highway and Endiya Partners.
The round also saw participations from AdvantEdge, Anicut Angel Fund and Gemba Capital, as well as Satyen Kothari of Cube Wealth & Citrus Pay; Gaurav Gupta, CBO of Cube Wealth; Akash Sinha of Cashfree; Reeju Datta of Cashfree; Ankit Agarwal CFO of Navi and FMS Launchpad.
The fresh funds will be used to expand the investment products and launch new user features.
The company also plans to continue hiring staff to further scale as it targets 1,000 crore in investments by September 2022.
“While fintech has revolutionised how we think about payments, stock-investing, loyalty rewards and money transfers, 99% of retail investors are still left with just two investment options – fixed deposits and mutual funds,” Nikhil Aggarwal, founder & CEO, Grip Invest, said.
Aggarwal added “At the same time, we want these investors to have direct access to finance growth and asset creation for the businesses of tomorrow. For example, 40% of investments via Grip have gone towards building a robust growth in the electric vehicles industry.”
The company has so far raised Rs 27 crore ($ 3.6 million) in different financing rounds.
Conversational commerce platform Ping has raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Elevation Capital.
The fresh funds will be used for the development of the platform, hiring of staff and expansion across metro cities in India.
Founded by Vartika Bansal, Ping enables commerce and communication for agricultural producers, local manufacturers, home-based business owners among various communities.
The app is inspired by WhatsApp groups used by farmers, makers, and other sellers to sell directly to residents of housing societies.
“The economy maker in India is booming and with the rising e-commerce penetration, a strong movement to provide, preserve and celebrate makers and their identities is emerging,” Vartika Bansal, founder, Ping, said.
VCCircle had previously reported Elevation Capital investing in Ping when it was in Stealth mode last April.
Ping is a remote organisation with a founding team spread across the country.
