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NEW DELHI: Wealth tech platform, Dezerv Investments Pvt. Ltd., has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by technology venture capital investor, Accel Partners, taking its valuation to $100 million.
Existing investors Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners India also participated in the round.
Close to 60% of the funding in this round was raised from Accel Partners, and the remaining was split equally between Elevation and Matrix.
The company didn’t disclose the quantum of stake diluted but revealed that the majority of the company was still owned by the founders and the team.
Founded by former IIFL executives Sandeep Jethwani, Vaibhav Porwal and Sahil Contractor, the one-year-old startup has already amassed assets of around ₹800 crore. Dezerv is targeting invested assets on the platform to hit $1 billion in the next 12-18 months.
“The need for real expertise around how to manage your money is much more acute than ever. There's a BCG-Amfi study, which says that on average India has 230-240 advisors per million households. Relative to the US, it's 4,000 advisors per million households. So, there is a massive gap in terms of getting people to help with their money. And that's essentially what Dezerv is trying to solve through a technology-first approach," Jethwani told Mint.
The startup aims to focus the fundraise from the current round on strengthening digital product, building talent pool and brand awareness.
“Ours is a people-sensitive business. So, the talent pool is very important on the investing side and on the digital product side. Secondly, we still have to continue investing in and building further to be able to make investing seamless. Thirdly, brand awareness, which is getting more people to be aware of the fact that there is something called Dezerv, whom they can trust," Jethwani said.
In September last year, the startup had raised $7 million in a seed funding round, co-led by Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners India, with participation from investors such as Whiteboard Capital, Nath Ventures and Blume Founders Fund.
The investors start off with ₹50,000 as the minimum investment on the platform. Further, there are different products that have minimum regulatory requirements. For example, the portfolio management schemes on the platform have a minimum investment amount of ₹50 lakh, as per the regulatory requirement.
Dezerv targets the ‘middle market’ of individuals with investable surpluses of ₹15 lakh to a few crores. The startup also offers direct bonds to its investors and deals for angel investing.