threedots raises $4 mn in seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital

threedots, a next-gen community investing platform, has raised $4 million in seed round of funding led by Kalaari Capital. Other investors include Better Capital, iSeed, Cloud capital, Kunal Shah (Cred), Lalit Keshre (Groww), Jitendra Gupta (Jupiter), Amrish and Sweta Rau (Pine labs), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Rohit MA (cloud9), Giri Malpani (Malpani Family), Mohit Daga and others. The funds will be used for strengthening the product and expanding the team.

threedots app offers users a daily dose of financial news and a finance centric community apart from stock investing. It provides a platform for members to leverage the knowledge & experience of stock/crypto market experts. It bridges the gap between market experts and users, which helps users to make quality decisions.

A large number of people including millennials are confused and clueless about making investing decisions. The layperson doesn’t have the access to institutional-level expertise & resources, unlike mature investors. They end-up losing hard-earned money, due to a lack of right guidance, resources & wrong expectations. Youngsters who are first-time investors lack a connected community where they can discuss investing and the markets with like-minded folks and keep themselves updated with the trends.

The market is rapidly expanding with over 14 million Demat accounts in FY 2021 vs 4.9 million in FY20. Currently, only 3 per cent of Indians invest in the capital market which is poised to reach 15% by 2030 as compared to 55 per cent in the US.

threedots has already onboarded 100+ market experts who guide users in their community as well as partnerships with Groww, Coindcx, and Finshots. Its key differentiators are - Just in time & on-demand relevant information availability; experts led investing communities, interests, and cultures; app designed with a focus on real needs & problems of the masses, said the company in a release.

threedots was founded in March 2021 by Rishu Garg, Prakhar Bhardwaj and Akul Agarwal who are BITS Pilani alumni and have worked together at Groww. The founders have experience in product and scaling with backgrounds in working with companies like Cleartax and Small case.

Rishu Garg, Cc-founder, threedots, said, “Our vision is to make threedots the next-gen community investment platform where people can learn, discuss & invest all at one place. Our goal is to shape and empower the investment ecosystem in India. We want to change the financial life of the next 100 mn users in India who will be using financial services for the first time and help them create wealth. At threedots, we always practice & believe in hyper trust - within our users & our team, which was missing in the industry for so long."

Kiran Vasireddy, partner at Kalaari Capital, Ex-COO Paytm, commented, "We are excited to partner with Rishu, Prakhar, and Akul as they are building a social investing platform for the new generation of investors in India. Equity investments in India are expected to witness strong growth backed by the increased information access brought by platforms going digital. With current penetration only at 5%, there is a huge opportunity for a platform to help millennials come and learn from financial influencers the art of investing. We are impressed with Rishu and the team's strong experience in building consumer internet products and excited to partner with them in their journey as they build threedots for the world.”

threedots has a team of 30 and expects to be 50-strong in the next few months. Its home-grown app is available on Android and ios.

There are 200 million people with investable income in India, but only 30 million investors. The only way to bring the next 170 million on board is by making investing simple. threedots aims to play a leading role in making it easier for the next generation.