Stock Investment Platform Smallcase Raises $14mn In Series B Funding Led By DSP Group The company stated it will utilize the fresh capital to enhance the smallcases infrastructure stack, add more products and partners and advance its technology infrastructure
By Debarghya Sil •
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Bengaluru-based capital markets infrastructure startup smallcase on Monday announced it has raised USD14 million in Series B round led by DSP Group.
A mix of existing investors, which included Blume Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Beenext and WEH Ventures, and new investors Kunal Shah (CRED), Utpal Sheth (Rare Enterprises) and Arkram Ventures also participated in the round.
Launched in 2015 by IIT Kharagpur alumni Rohan Gupta, Anugrah Shrivastava and Vasanth Kamath, the startup works with capital market participants to offer investment products called smallcases. Smallcases are model portfolios of stocks and ETFs that are created and managed by registered individuals and entities.
The company's platform is integrated with HDFC Securities, 5Paisa, Kotak Securities and others to offer stock and ETF smallcases to investors. In the last two years, the company's user base has grown by 8X to 1.5 million and over INR 5,000 crore have been transacted in smallcases.
"Our mission is to develop simple and transparent investment products for the Indian retail investor and in the last few years, we have built a very unique brand and have some of India's most respected financial institutions as strategic partners to further this goal," said Vasanth Kamath, founder and chief executive officer, smallcase.
Commenting on the deal, Sequoia Capital India's Harshjit Sethi said, "smallcase is targeting over 40 million direct equity investors in India with its innovative, easy to understand, transparent and digital first products. Their rapid growth, exceptional investor retention, unique marquee partnerships across the ecosystem have been key reasons the Sequoia India team has doubled down on their partnership with the company."
Karthik Reddy, managing partner, Blume Ventures concurred and said "It's been wonderful watching the growth of the team and the company at smallcase over 3+ years, from an idea to delivering the original promise of simplicity at scale. It allows for millions of new and existing investors to partake in equity markets more thoughtfully."
The company will utilize the fresh capital to enhance the smallcases infrastructure stack, add more products and partners and advance its technology infrastructure, as per its official statement.
"The desire to shift savings from banks to capital markets is hindered by high costs and structural issues like undersupply of passive investment options. As an active investor in middle India themes with insights into evolving fintech, we believe smallcase will usher in the shift to passive investing in India through its scalable technology and unique business mode," said Rahul Chandra, managing director, Arkam Ventures.Kamath said in the next 18 months there will be an expansion in smallcases ecosystem with the launch of new products, manufacturers, and distribution partners.
