Sequoia-backed fintech firm Smallcase snags Series B funding

By Narinder Kapur

  • 28 Sep 2020
Credit: 123RF.com

Smallcase Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a capital markets-focussed financial technology startup, has raised $14 million (about Rs 103 crore) in a Series B fundraising round.

The round in the Bengaluru-based Smallcase has been led by asset management group DSP, the company said in a statement. Existing investors Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, Beenext and WEH Ventures also participated.

Others that took part in this Series B exercise include Arkam Ventures (previously known as Unitary Helion), Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-led Rare Enterprises’s chief executive officer, Utpal Sheth, and Cred founder Kunal Shah.

The startup will use the funds to enhance the technological infrastructure underlying its product, as well as add more investment products and partners to its platform. It will also expand its technology and product teams.

“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,” Sequoia principal Harshjit Sethi said.

Smallcase works with brokerages and investment advisers to offer ‘smallcases’, which are portfolios of stocks or exchange-traded funds. Its platform is integrated with brokers including Zerodha, HDFC Securities, Kotak Securities, 5Paisa and Axis Direct. It claims to have grown its investor base to over 1.5 million, with more than Rs 5,000 crore having been transacted in its ‘smallcases’.

Smallcase was set up in 2015 by Rohan Gupta, Anugarh Shrivastava and Vasanth Kamath. All three are graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and have worked with companies such as Goldman Sachs and Nomura.

In February last year, the company raised $8 million in a Sequoia-led Series A funding round. Blume Ventures, Straddle Capital, Beenext Pte Ltd, WEH Ventures and DSP Adiko had also participated in that round.

Smallcase is among the handful of investment-focussed fintech startups that have raised capital in recent months. Earlier this month, online investment platform Groww raised $30 million in a Series C funding round that was led by YC Continuity, which backs Y Combinator alumni companies.

In July, Unicorn India Ventures invested around $650,000 in Pangean Global Services Pvt. Ltd, which operates blockchain-based chit fund management platform ChitMonks.

In June, Rainmatter Capital – the fintech-focused fund and incubator set up by online stock trading startup Zerodha – invested in the fixed-income investments-focussed GoldenPi Technologies Pvt. Ltd.