Y Combinator-backed investment app Groww raises over $21m in series B round

India-based online investment platform Groww announced that it has raised about US$21.6 million in a series B round led by US-based fund Ribbit Capital.

Existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Y Combinator also participated in the round.

Photo credit: Senorset Jahnsen.

Founded in 2017 by former Flipkart employees Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh, and Ishan Bansal, Groww currently offers more than 3,000 mutual fund options.

It plans to use the new investment to double its staff to about 200 over the next year and launch more products. It also wants to be a one-stop shop for everything investment, co-founder and CEO Lalit Keshre told Livemint.

“The idea is to launch all investments. However, we will start with stocks, exchange-traded funds, maybe digital gold, etc. – products which can be sold digitally with ease – and move on to other products.”

The company is also looking to monetize its platform through a premium subscription-based model, Keshre revealed, without stating a timeline for when the feature will be available.

In January of this year, Groww banked US$6.2 million in a series A round led by Sequoia India to launch new products and investment options, as well as improve its technology. The round saw participation from Y Combinator, Propel Venture Partners, and Kauffman Fellows.

One major local player offering mutual fund investment products is digital wallet Paytm Money. It was recently reported that the company, backed by Alibaba and SoftBank, plans to invest around US$105 million to reach 250 million monthly active users on mobile by March 2020.