Founded by Aditya Goel, 24 and Mridul Gupta, 24, electronic engineers from IIT-Delhi and Karthik Vaidyanath, 24, an electric engineer from IIT-Roorkee, Investeaze gives the common man a one-click personalised investment advice based on their financial goals. All three have strong finance background with Aditya’s trading experience at PIMCO, one of the largest asset managers in the world to Mridul’s financial consulting experience for major banks like ICICI, ANZ and Karthik’s investment banking experience.
Formed in August 2013, it has grown to a team of eight now. Started out of a personal requirement of the founders when making financial decisions, the trio researched on similar business models before starting an investment management portal for retail customers in the Indian market. Investeaze received $20,000 seed funding from the ARK accelerator programme in June 2013 and also received an additional funding of $150,000 on Demo Day at the Startup Accelerator programme. Karthik adds, “We understand that retail investments in India are still too complicated and cluttered for the common man, hence we set out to solve the same.”
They do not charge any commission fees and in Aditya’s words, “We have the first mover advantage in Asia. We can leverage multiple distribution channels like banks, unit trust distributors, online brokers, and wealth management providers. Currently, Investeaze is working on introducing pre-made portfolios of stocks based on macro themes. It also has customisations available to customers through provision of filers and themes and social networking features to engage investors.” Investeaze approaches corporates for tie-ups to help their employees use the platform for financial planning and investments.
On being asked about their model for portfolio allocation, Mridul says “We use the Black-Litterman model for asset allocation and personalised financial advice.” The founders add that the biggest roadblock was the legal regulations to operate in India and tying up with big brokers to pitch the idea to them. They have received over 1,000 signups in the first two weeks of its launch. Planning to break even in 18 months, they ask budding entrepreneurs to strike the right balance between planning and execution.
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