This Indian start-up is making strategic trading possible for everyone

The Bengaluru-based financial technology startup Streak recently raised $1 million in pre-Series A funding round

When Harsha Manohar started trading of stocks in 2010, he faced three major issues -- the available platforms were not simple enough to allow him to execute every strategy, there was no way he could validate his plans and he lost a lot of time in tracking stock movements manually.

Manohar is now the CEO of Streak AI Technologies, a start-up that he founded with Vipul Divyanshu and Jayalakshmi Manohar in 2017. The start-up, while addressing the issues that once Manohar faced, aims to create a level playing field for all investors in stock trade. While doing away with the need for coding skills, the platform allows investors to leverage quality back-testing, real-time analysis, and swift strategy deployment to generate returns.

Streak recently raised $1 million in pre-Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital.

The changing investment preferences of Indian households augurs well for the start-up. Equities are slowly becoming the preferred investment option for Indian's middle class as it moves away from safe but low-return options like fixed deposits and Public Provident Fund. According to data from the Reserve Bank of India, 8 per cent of household financial assets were in equities in FY18, up from a mere 3 per cent in FY16.

Though at present these investments are mostly made through mutual funds, convenient platforms and proper awareness can make stock trading a preferred option for retail investors.

The company is upbeat on the future of the sector as, Manohar says, millennials want convenience and they want to be strategic in their approach. The CEO says it may be a niche market at present, but is set to grow in the next three to five years.

The start-up works on a monthly subscription model with plans ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 1,400. Streak is currently integrated with online stock trading platform Zerodha and is in integration talks with other top trading platforms. Rainmatter Capital, started by Zerodha founders, is an investor in Streak. 
 

The CEO claims that users have run 13 million strategies on the platform and generated a transacted value of over Rs 2,200 crore. "The traction that we see at present suggests that the need for the product had always been there," Manohar says.

The CEO believes that for the market to grow there is a need to educate people on the various aspects of trading stocks, especially with regards to the returns they can expect.

Retail investors often have unrealistic return expectations from equities and this is an issue for the industry as such investors often get disillusioned from the market after it fails to meet their expectations.