Investment platform dezerv. secures seed funding from Elevation Capital, Matrix, others

Investment management platform dezerv. has secured $7 million (Rs 51 crore) in its seed funding round led by early-stage venture capital fund Matrix Partners India and growth stage investor Elevation Capital. 

The round also saw participation from some of the reputed startup founders- Kunal Shah (CRED), Ramakant Sharma (LivSpace), Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra (OfBusiness) and Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal (Meesho), and Shashvat Nakrani and Suhail Sameer (BharatPe), among others. 

The startup aims to utilise the capital to hire more professionals as well as launch and scale their invest-tech product platform. 

The firm was launched in April this year by former IIFL Wealth executives Sandeep Jethwani, Vaibhav Porwal and Sahil Contractor.

The platform goes beyond providing access to vanilla mutual funds, and offers a unique ‘Integrated Portfolio Approach’ (IPA) combined with white-glove expert advisory.  

It claims to help users maximise returns while controlling the downside, with the right portfolio mix and also unlock access to new asset classes, which are currently available only to high net-worth individuals 

“We are excited to launch our unique Integrated Portfolio Approach that looks beyond selecting individual mutual funds, and delivers high performing portfolios while controlling risk,” the co-founders said in a statement. 

deserv. aims to tap into around 3 crore households of working professionals in the country who are adrift without a clear solution to manage their growing pool of wealth. 

“We are big believers in financialisation of savings and democratising access to financial products for customers across the affluence spectrum,” Mridul Arora, partner at Elevation Capital, said.

Other funded players in the online investments segment include Groww, WealthBucket, Nivesh.com and Scripbox Advisors. 

In April, Groww entered unicorn club after raising $83 million in its Series D round led by Tiger Global Management.