MF investment platform Nivesh.Com raises fund

Nivesh.Com, a mass market mutual fund investment platform, today said it has raised angel funding from a group of entrepreneur-turned-investors.
The investors in this round include Rahul Gupta, CEO of Right Global Infosolutions and former president at private equity firm Sonoma Management Partners, Sandeep Shroff, CEO of Silicon Valley-based MyStartUpCFO.Com and former head of investor relations at Infosys, and P V Sahad, founder and former CEO of The VCCircle Network, a company statement said.
"The amount raised will be used for network expansion, reaching out to more customers and for improving the investment experience," said Anurag Garg, founder and chief executive, Providential Advisory Services, the Noida-based company which owns Nivesh.Com.

The company, however, did not disclose the amount it has raised.
The platform will adopt an omni channel approach for on-boarding investors while simplifying the scheme selection process by categorising funds as per investment objectives, providing a healthy mix of equity and debt plans, it said.
The company is primarily targeting the underpenetrated markets of second and third tier cities and towns and is betting on the growing awareness among middle class Indians of the need for participating in equity markets for wealth creation and goal-based financial planning.

According to Garg, "The mutual fund industry grew 17 times in the last 15 years. However, top five states, accounting for 23 per cent of population and 35 per cent of GDP, have contributed 71 per cent of the total AUM, while the rest of the country, with 77 per cent population, accounted only for 29 per cent of the AUM.

"There is a huge gap and therefore our mission is to take mutual funds as an investment product to every nook and corner of country."
This omni channel platform was founded in August last year by Garg, who had earlier set up mutualfundsindia.Com, which was later acquired by rating agency Icra.
In line with its future plans to tap the mass retail MF market, the platform will be available in local languages, beginning with Hindi, in a few months.
Nivesh.Com intends to work on creating investor awareness and has conducted six well received programmes in many smaller cities in association with asset management companies, the statement said.

The platform will also be available through local distributor partners, who will assist their clients in on-boarding and transactions, it added.