Zerodha forms joint venture with Amazon-backed Smallcase for AMC operations

Brokerage house Zerodha on Wednesday said it has formed a joint venture with Amazon-backed wealth management firm smallcase to build an asset management company.

The capital markets regulator Sebi's approval has already been received for setting up the joint venture.

"While awaiting the final approval of our AMC (mutual fund), we asked if we should build it ourselves or collaborate. Given the 6+ years of experience that

@smallcaseHQ has in building investment products, it made perfect sense to create a joint venture (JV) to build the AMC," Nithin Kamath founder and CEO of Zerodha tweeted.

He, further, announced that smallcase will help Zerodha in building simple low-cost passive mutual fund products for investors.

In September 2021, Zerodha received in-principle approval from Sebi to set up an asset management company. This came after the company applied for a licence to start mutual fund operations in February 2020.

The brokerage house is now awaiting final approval from the Sebi to start the mutual fund operations.

Vasanth Kamath CEO and founder of smallcase tweeted that he is very excited to partner with Zerodha to help introduce a new generation of investors to mutual funds.

"The upcoming AMC will be a joint venture between Zerodha & smallcase and will use learnings & shared values from both cos to build an enduring fund house," he tweeted.

At present, 42 mutual fund players are managing an asset base of Rs 40.5 lakh crore. The latest entrant Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund filed draft documents with the Sebi for launching seven schemes in equity, debt and hybrid spaces.