How Groww & Fintual Provide Financial Freedom in Emerging Markets
K50 portfolio companies Groww and Fintual prove the opportunity to provide financial freedom to the masses in emerging markets
K50 Ventures’ portfolio company Groww reached the coveted “unicorn” status and crossed 15 million registered users. Groww is an India-based fintech that makes investing accessible and transparent for the masses. We backed them at the seed round, and their most recent round of funding, an $83M Series D, was led by Tiger Global and early investor, Sequoia.
Back in 2016, we saw that Robinhood resonated with consumers in the US. We started to look into multiple companies across the globe and set out to find a founding team with deep insight into emerging markets such as India, Latin America, SE Asia, and the Middle East. Access to financial services was not only an issue in the US, but incredibly difficult in emerging markets. We looked for a unique model that would provide entry to traditional credit and investment markets, while marrying technology and good design to create fair, equitable solutions for the 99% to build stable financial futures for themselves and their families.
Flash forward five years and we’re proud to see what the relentless team at Groww is doing for people in India. Only 24% of the Indian population is financially literate. While more than 200 million people in India transact money digitally, only 12.5% invest in mutual funds and stocks. Groww is empowering individuals, clearing the way to financial freedom; two thirds of their users are first time investors. Last year, they launched Groww Academy, an initiative to educate new users, introducing them to derivative investing, futures, and options trading. They also help individuals invest in US stocks, securities, and government bonds.
When we congratulated Groww’s Co-Founder and CEO Lalit Keshre after they closed their round, he said,
“This changes nothing. We started Groww with the goal of democratizing wealth creation. With technology, we have been able to bring ease, simplicity, and transparency for users investing in stocks, mutual funds and digital gold. In the days to come, Groww will strengthen its proposition as a full stack investment platform by launching derivatives, US stocks, and low-risk investment products.”
Right around the time we invested in Groww, we also backed Fintual, a Chilean company with a similar approach to Groww. Today, Latin America has approximately 600 million people that produce a GDP of roughly $5 trillion. Fintual is focused on the 300 million Latin Americans with bank accounts, but no investment opportunities — addressing a similar problem to Groww. They just raised a $15M round of funding from Latin America’s biggest venture capital fund, Kaszek Ventures. Fintual is seeing tremendous growth, with $800M AUM, and plans to expand beyond Chile into Mexico.
The pandemic is changing how we all work, live, and transact. As a result, we have an opportunity to invest in startups around the world making life more accessible, affordable and sustainable by granting the everyday person a pathway to financial freedom.
If you or someone you know is building a company in the fintech space focused on making life better for the 99%, let’s talk. Reach out to ryan@k50ventures.com or adriel@k50ventures.com.
