Wealth management and investment platform Groww has raised $251 million as a part of its latest Series E funding led by IconiQ Growth, almost tripling its valuation to $3 billion in a little over six months.
The company raised $83 million in April as a part of its Series D round led by Tiger Global, which valued the company at a little over $1 billion. With this round, the company has raised close to $535 million till date.
Existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners participated in the round. New investors included Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast.
Groww is expected to use the proceeds from the latest fundraise to expand its technology infrastructure and widen its reach to underpenetrated geographies in India. It will also be using the funds to continue making significant investments in creating financial education and awareness about investment products.
“Groww’s objective is to ensure that customers have all the investment options available to them, to invest in different instruments. The platform should be able to provide customers the right selection and tools to help them make the right decision. Today, a product like a mutual fund is our anchor product and we believe that 100 million customers in India can invest in mutual funds,” said Lalit Keshre, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder, Groww, in an interaction with Mint.
The company has recently launched futures and options, investment in initial public offerings (IPO) and sovereign gold bonds on its platform. It was also looking to launch investment in US-based stocks for its investors.
“We have launched (investment in) US-stocks for our web platform. The problem is not about investment (in US stocks) but rather about the remittance process and costs. And a lot of players in the market are looking to solve for that. We are also working on solving these remittance problems, but don’t have clear timelines to give at this moment on the launch,” added Keshre.
Keshre added that the company is keenly watching the lending space but is yet to finalise products to launch in the category.
The company is also looking to launch crypto-based investments on its platform to capture the growing interest of Indian investors towards the upcoming asset class, two persons aware of the plans told Mint on condition of anonymity. Keshre, however, declined to comment on this specific development.
Five-year-old Groww is an investment platform which allows users to invest across direct mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), stocks and IPOs. It also provides tools for stock and portfolio analysis for investors. Currently, the company claims to have over 20 million users on its platform, with 70% of its investors coming from Tier 2 and 3 geographies. It has around 2 million users leveraging Groww’s platform to invest in stocks. Groww had launched stock investments on its platform in July, last year.
“Groww is already among the leading investment platforms in India, showcasing strong unit economics and customer cohorts. We are excited to participate in the company’s vision to be the primary financial platform for Indian consumers,” Yoonkee Sull, partner at IconiQ Growth, said.
In May, the company said it will be acquiring Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd.’s mutual funds business for Rs 175 crore, allowing it to create newer investment products. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will allow Groww to gain from the expense ratio charged on the mutual fund products offered through the asset management company (AMC).
It will be investing a part of the current funding into the AMC business, Keshre added.