Fello, which claims to be India’s first game-based investment startup, has raised $1 million in its Seed funding round led by global investor Entrepreneur First, the company said in a statement.
Acequia Capital, Kube VC, Upsparks, JITO Angels, Dexter Angels, and independent investors Ashneer Groover, co-founder, BharatPe, Bala Parthasarathy, Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder, MoneyTap, Faiz Mayalakkara, Director of investments at Emirates Investment Authority and Charlie Songhurst, also participated in the funding round, the statement said.
The company will use the funds to hire more employees, scale the product and enhance its technology for more game-based finance products, as it foresees disruption in the space in India in the near-term. The company aims to expand its userbase and to reach 1 million users investing and playing on its application in the next three quarters. Fello said it is also looking to penetrate deeper into tier 1 and tier 2 cities across the country, the statement said.
Fello is a game-based savings and investment application to save, play and get returns more than a traditional savings bank account. The company enables users to save and invest in assets like digital gold and receive gaming tokens for every rupee they invest. Using these tokens, users can play inhouse games like cricket and tambola and win prizes every week, the statement said.
“India boasts of over 400 million mobile gamers, yet only 2% of the total population are active investors. Fello, a product built at the intersection of gaming and finance, brings an unprecedented scope for disruption,” said the founders in a joint statement.
The company, founded earlier this year by Manish Maryada and Shourya Lala, claims to have attracted more than 100,000 users on its mobile application Fello, in two weeks since it launched the application earlier this month. The company said that 80% of users were first-timer investors, the statement said.
“While an overwhelming majority of our early users were first-time investors, 60% have gone on to reinvest. Moreover, 94% of the user base was acquired through simple organic referrals. These figures show strong early momentum and validation that making finance fun can motivate an entirely new generation to start building healthier financial profiles,” the founders added.
Fello said that it is also among the nine companies selected for the CIIE Fintech Inclusion Programme of 2021.
