Upside AI Raises $1.2 Mn Seed Round From Endiya Partners The firm will use the investment to scale up distribution, product, and tech teams that will focus on growing AUM from HNIs, family offices, and institutional investors
By Prabhjeet Bhatla •
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Mumbai-based SEBI-registered investment management startup Upside AI on Monday announced to have raised a Seed round of $1.2 million, led by VC fund, Endiya Partners. Other investors in the round include Vijay Kedia, Ajay Nanavati, and Gopichand Katragadda.
The funds raised will be used to hire senior sales talent with experience in the space and hire best-in-class product engineers.
"We believe the Indian asset management industry is in its early days with single-digit penetration of household wealth. Technology and rules-based investing already dominate mature markets; in fact, the top five hedge funds in the world are quant funds. 5-10 years from now this will play out in India too and we are excited to be at the forefront of this movement. Over the next couple of years, we want to add 1,000 HNIs, family offices, and institutional clients and grow to INR 1,000 crore AUM. We believe the funding and guidance from Endiya and our esteemed angel investors will propel us towards this milestone," said Atanuu Agarrwal, co-founder, Upside AI.
The company was founded on the belief that technology will make better investing decisions than humans over the long term. This is because machines are unbiased, unemotional, and unaffected by market euphoria and panic. It is therefore focused on building products that follow a rules-based, systematic approach to investing. Founded in Dec 2017 by Kanika Agarrwal, Nikhil Hooda, and Atanuu Agarrwal, Upside AI spent a year in beta and went live with its products to external investors in Jul-19. It is registered with SEBI as a portfolio management service (PMS), the company shared in a statement.
"Upside AI has already attracted marquee clients ranging from large family offices, VCs, CEOs of large MNCs in India and the US on the back of unique investment tech that the team has built in-house and extensively tested. The funding will help them build a robust pipeline of differentiated tech products and a network of large distributors, wealth managers, brokers, and IFAs. The Founders' product-focused and client-centric approach can help them achieve their vision of being a world-class, tech-driven asset management company which will democratize access to sophisticated investment technology, built for Indian investors," added Sateesh Andra, managing director, Endiya Partners.
Upside AI has been delivering 71 per cent cumulative returns since July 2019. In June 2021, PMS AIF World ranked Upside AI Multicap in the top 10 products of its peer group. On the back of performance and organic referrals, their AUM has grown by tenfold over the last year to over INR 55 crore with funds from several HNIs, and family offices.
Upside AI aims to build India's first end-to-end tech-led asset management company. It plans to use tech to run the entire chain from client onboarding to sophisticated investment tech to live tracking and reporting via a seamless UI/UX experience for clients.
