Bengaluru-based investment platform Groww raises $251 million in Series E round

Bengaluru-based investment platform Groww tripled its valuation in six months after raising $251 million in a Series E funding, the company announced on October 25, Monday. The company valuation now stands at $3 billion. The funding round was led by Iconiq Growth, and saw the participation of investors such as Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast. This round also saw the participation of existing Groww investors, including Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners. 

Groww is an investment platform for retail investors, which allows people to invest in direct mutual funds, stocks, ETFs and IPOs. Groww, in a statement, said it plans to extend its reach to “under-penetrated geographies, strengthen the team and scale tech infrastructure”. The company said it would invest in spreading financial education and awareness. The investment platform was founded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal in 2016.

CEO Lalit said, “We will continue working hard to build an iconic and trusted brand out of India. Over the last five years, we have built a product that customers love and have lowered the barriers to investing across India”.

He told Moneycontrol that the platform is looking at adding government bonds and other fixed-income products, including derivatives. According to the report, the platform has over 20 million users, and 70% of them are present in tier-2 and tier-3 areas. In April, the platform had said that it registered more than 2.5 lakh SIPs (systematic investment plan) each month.

In May this year, it announced that it was acquiring Indiabulls Mutual Fund for a total consideration of Rs 175 crore. This came months after markets regulator Sebi had allowed digital platforms like fintech to enter the mutual funds business, Groww became the first fintech to enter the asset management space.