Investment Tech Unicorn Groww triples its valuation to $3 billion with a fresh fundraise of $251 million

India-based investment and wealth management platform Groww has tripled its valuation to $3 billion in just 6 months after raising $251 million in a new funding round led by Iconiq Growth.

Groww is a part of high-growth startups in the country that have raised back-to-back financing at steep valuations in 2021.

The Series E funding round also saw participation from existing investors- Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, YC Continuity Fund, and Propel Venture Partners. New investors Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon, and Steadfast also participated.

Diving Deeper

In April this year, Groww had secured $83 million funding in its Series D round which was led by Tiger Global and enabled FinTech to enter the unicorn category.

Groww plans to use this fresh funding to expand its technology infrastructure and broaden its reach to under-penetrated regions. The startup will also use the funds to spread financial education and awareness about various investment products.

Founded in 2016 by Harish Jain, Lalit Keshre, Ishan Bansal, and Neeraj Singh, Groww allows its users to invest across direct MFs (mutual funds), ETFs (exchange-traded funds), IPOs, and stocks. It also provides tools for portfolio and stock analysis for investors.

The FinTech platform has recently launched investments in IPOs and sovereign gold bonds. It is also looking to launch investments in US-based stocks for its users.

“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.

Groww is tapping into larger markets. Over 200 million people in India use digital platforms for money transactions, but presently less than 30 million invest in stocks and mutual funds. The company boasts of more than 15 million registered users, out of these two-third are first time investors. Furthermore, over 60 percent of its users are in smaller towns and cities of the country.

According to Keshre, Groww has grown significantly in the last eighteen months as more Indians are now beginning to explore investment options.

“The financial services market in India is already large, growing rapidly, and ripe for disruption. During the last couple of years, Groww has demonstrated that they are ready to seize that opportunity through strong accelerating momentum predicated on strength of technology,” said Yoonkee Sull, partner at ICONIQ Growth, in a statement.

Tweets by _groww