After Paytm launched its wealth management division, Mobikwik is now following suit. The digital payments major has acquired Clearfunds, an online platform that facilitates investments in mutual funds, according to a report in Economic Times.
The value of the transaction has not been disclosed. Clearfunds is said to be managing $45 million worth of Assets Under Advisory. Its clients can access over 3000 different mutual funds schemes offered by 36 Mutual Fund Companies (AMCs) and 4 Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTAs).
Now with the takeover by MobiKwik, 107 million customers of will also be able to access these products on the Clearfunds platform, expanding the offerings by the digital wallet company in the wealth management sphere. The company has announced that it plans to invest $15 million (around Rs 112 crore) in the business. It is not clear if this amount includes the acquisition cost it paid to the promoters of the Mumbai-based Clearfunds or this will be fresh investments being made by them after taking over.
MobiKwik has retained Kunal Bajaj, the founder and CEO of Clearfunds to manage its new foray into its new business of wealth management. They say its customers can start with as little as Rs 100 to make investments on its platform.
Plans on entering this segment have been in the works for over a year now.
In an interview with TNM in December 2017, MobiKwik co-founder Upasana Taku said that MobiKwik’s focus was on being a consumer fintech brand.
“That means insurance, payments, lending and investments. That’s what we want to do because all these areas have immense opportunity... We believe there is merit in working with select financial partners, be it banks, NBFCs or insurance companies. Let them be OEMs, we’ll tell them what kind of customised products we want and then we will deliver those products through and through,” she said.
For MobiKwik, this is the first-ever acquisition and is aimed at enlarging customer engagement by adding more products for them once they sign in and make customer experience immersive. It also paves the way for a longer-term association of their customers as they go about managing their investments from the time that make the first investment till they stay invested. This takes them beyond the simple money transfers they engage in within the digital wallet now.
“Collaborations are definitely a part of our strategy where we take users of a brand and help them go digital via our app. Coming to consolidation, there are areas where we are also looking at potential investments. That will be where some companies have significant leverage in terms of transactions and merchants that they have been aggregated, so we will look at making investments of that nature,” Upasana told TNM in the interview.