Quona Capital invests in wealth management startup Fisdom

By Raaghav G R

Posted on November 8, 2017

The wealth management startup, Fisdom, which helps customers manage their mutual fund investments, has announced today (08/11/2017) that it has raised Rs. 25 crores in Series B round of investment led by Quona Capital. The startup plans to use the funds to add new financial products like insurance schemes and the National Pension System, upgrade its technology, expand its team and increase its rate of customer acquisition. Read more on Fintech Startups

Fisdom (Finwizard Technology Pvt. Ltd.) allows its customers to make and manipulate their mutual fund investments using Fisdom’s mobile app. It has partnerships with banks for outsourcing investment schemes/plans. Fisdom was founded in 2015 by Subramanya S.V., former managing director at the venture capital firm, Bessemer Venture Partners India and Anand Dalmia, a veteran investment banker.

“At Fisdom, we are thrilled to back a team that is taking a uniquely holistic, customer-centric approach to develop savings, investments and financial management tools for emerging, underserved consumers”, said Ganesh Rengaswamy, founding partner at Quona Capital.

Last year (2016) alone, Fisdom claims to have facilitated more than one lakh mutual fund investments worth more than Rs. 100 crores. Nearly 95% of Fisdom’s customers access mutual fund investments through its mobile app. The mobile app helps Fisdom’s customers choose the right amount and type of mutual fund investment by analyzing their short – term and long – term savings goals and other retirement plans. An algorithm deployed in the mobile app analyses customers’ savings goals and other preferences and suggests a mutual fund investment scheme for them. Fisdom generates revenue via commissions made from mutual fund transactions done on its platform.

“Our three-year target is to have half a million active investors in the platform consuming multiple products. Demonetization has helped the company positively. However, it has been an indirect effect; it is not that people who used to hoard cash suddenly started investing in capital markets due to demonetization. Due to the massive liquidity in the banking system, rate cuts on savings bank deposits and FDs forced customers to evaluate other options”, Subramanya S.V, CEO of Fisdom said.

Fisdom estimates that Indians hold more than US $1.35 trillion in their bank accounts but do not invest in mutual funds or capital markets due to low financial literacy and low trust in the market. It aims to fill this gap in trust and financial literacy by offering customised investment advice.

Quite a few fintech startups had gotten funded this year. They include the fintech startup, Kissht, which received an investment of US $10 million (Rs. 67 crores) from Fosun International, this month, this year (November, 2017). The fintech startup, Lendingkart Finance Limited secured an investment of US $10 million (Rs. 67 crores) from Kotak Mahindra Bank and Aditya Birla Financial Services during August, this year (2017). The fintech startup MoneyTap secured US $12.3 million in Series A round of funding led by Sequoia Capital India during June this year (2017). The fintech startup Telr secured US $3 million (Rs. 30 crores) in Series B round of funding led by Innovation East Funds during May, this year and finally the fintech startup Capital Float secured US $2.3 million (Rs. 15 crores) from Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) during April, this year. Read more on Startup News

Quona Capital invests in wealth management startup Fisdom