Tiger Global pours $25 Mn into stock broking firm Upstox

Tiger Global is making back to back investments in the Indian startup ecosystem. The New York-based investor kicked off the funding spree in October 2018 after three-year hiatus, and since then, it has picked up around 20 startups under its portfolio.

After the initial focus on B2B startups, Tiger Global's investment across consumer internet and enterprise has also grown considerably. In overall 20 deals, the number of investments in B2C startups has now reached 10.

The hedge fund has mainly been aggressive on fintech space. It backed Fyle, Open Financial, OkCredit in B2B segment while INDWealth and CRED are its B2C bets. Adding Upstox in its portfolio, the firm has invested $25 million in the online stock broking company. 

Backed by the likes of Kalaari Capital and individual investors Ratan Tata, Upstox had raised around $4 million in last institutional round in 2016.

The eleven-year-old company allows retail investors to trade in the equity market through the platform. Besides stockbroking, it is planning to add mutual fund investments as well.

According to Ravi Kumar, cofounder, Upstox, the company has been profitable for the last couple of years and will infuse the risk capital for expanding the business, strengthening product platform and double the team size to 300.

As of now, the platform claims to have around 300,000 clients and contribute over 3% of the national trades conducted across exchanges in India.

Upstox had recently tied up with Mumbai-based robo-advisory firm Tavaga Advisory Services to tap tech-savvy youngsters and consumers in tier II and tier III cities.

The company directly competes with Zerodha, Angel Broking and ShareKhan.

The development was reported by ET.