Mumbai Angels Network, others fund fintech platform AsknBid

Bengaluru headquartered AsknBid Innovation Factory India, which owns a fintech platform that provides algorithmic trading solutions, has raised an undisclosed amount of capital from Mumbai Angels Network and other angel investors. 

The investment was led by Mumbai Angels Network member Ravikanth Reddy, a partner at Hyderabad-based family office Regentway Ventures, according to a statement.

The company said this is its second fundraise since inception, without disclosing further details. 

It will use the capital to scale its research platforms and strengthen technology, the statement said.

It had previously raised capital in a funding round led by Archana Priyadarshini, former partner at venture capital fund Unicorn India Ventures, according to a Mumbai Angels Network spokesperson.

Founded in 2018 by Suresh Bavisetti and Paarth Dhar, AsknBid provides technology-based algorithm trading investing solutions to enterprises through its proprietary product Quant4Hedge. It recently launched Lambda, a tournament in which researchers exhibit trading strategies for cash prizes. 

“Algo-investing is still in its infancy in Indian markets and we believe that India will see multiple players and products emerging in this space over the next few years,” founders Bavisetti and Dhar said in a joint statement. 

“Our family office has been tracking deep-tech innovations in global capital markets for years and foresee several whitespaces in India in this regard. We have a strong belief that technology will have a deeper say in the Indian Markets in the coming few years,” lead investor Reddy said.

In December, Reddy, also managing director at road construction materials supplier Hotcrete Infrastructure, invested in space-tech startup Dhruva Space. 

Earlier this month, Mumbai Angels Network, a collective of angel investors focused on early-stage startups, invested in eco-friendly travel-tech firm BLive. 

Fintech startups have caught investors' attention, with the sector seeing at least eight deals this month alone. 

Last week, fintech firm YAP, which provides technology building platform to banks and companies offering financial products, raised $4.5 million in a Series A round led by Singapore-based venture capital firm Beenext. A week before that, its competitor Setu raised $15 million in a Series A round led by returning investor Lightspeed Venture Partners. 

Apart from those, digital lender Capital Float raised $15 million in an equity capital round from returning investors Ribbit Capital, Amazon, SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital India, while Gurugram-based non-banking financial company Aye Finance raised $23.8 million in debt from lenders in India and abroad.

Digital payments platform Fingpay, financial contract management platform Recko and insurance platform Coverfox also raised capital this month.