Niyo has raised approximately US$49.2 million till date and counts Tencent among its backers
Indian fintech startup Niyo has acquired mutual funds investment platform Goalwise to expand its product offerings to Millennials, the company announced in a statement yesterday.
Niyo Co-founders CEO Vinay Bagri and CTO Virender Bisht, along with Niyo, have acquired majority stakes in Goalwise, in a cash-and-stock deal for an undisclosed amount. Upon completion of the transaction, Goalwise founding members will join Niyo’s leadership team and run Niyo Wealth as an independent vertical within Niyo, according to the press release.
With countries around the world implementing social distancing norms and movement restrictions, the need for digital banking and related services has increased more than ever as people are looking for digital alternatives to traditional financial offerings. According to the statement, Niyo will provide an innovative range of products including wealth management through its mobile application.
The acquisition will help Niyo achieve its goal of building a comprehensive product suite, according to the statement. Currently, the startup offers DIY zero percent commission mutual fund product on its Niyo Wealth platform, and plans to launch international and domestic stocks, robo-advisory, and auto-invest products over the next few months.
Niyo last raised $35 million in a Series B funding round led by Tencent Holdings and Hong Kong-based Horizon Ventures a little over a year ago. Niyo’s other backers include Social+Capital, JS Capital and Prime Venture Partners. According to Crunchbase data, Niyo’s total funding till date stands at $49.2 million.
Niyo was founded in 2015 as a neo-bank, with the aim of making banking simple, smart and transparent, and currently has a team of over 800 employees with a customer base of 1.5 million and over 6000 corporates, according to its website.
According to the statement, Niyo became one of the first Neo Banks in India to launch a co-branded savings account in partnership with IDFC FIRST Bank, which combines banking, forex, and wealth management features into its 007 offering – 0% commission on mutual funds, 0% forex mark-up on international spending, and up to 7% interest on the savings account through a waitlist that was subscribed to by more than 100,000 people.
Goalwise currently has over 60,000 users with $113 million assets under advice (AUA), according to the statement. The startup offers a unique set-and-forget goal-based investing solution that oversees all aspects of investment, including mutual fund selection, portfolio rebalancing and target-tracking among others, the statement reports.
According to Niyo’s statement, Indians have over $1.8 trillion of wealth parked in safe and low-yield bank deposits. This is largely due to poor financial literacy, low trust in the stock market, poor user experience, and general disinterest, claims Niyo.
Through its online platform, Niyo aims to offer higher interest rates to encourage investment in mutual funds, the statement says.
“We are delighted to welcome Goalwise and the entire team to the Niyo family. It has been our constant endeavour to offer the best financial products to our consumers and make the banking process easy, secure and convenient for all,” said Bagri.
“We strongly believe in the importance of investing and helping our customers achieve their life goals of financial stability and independence. The acquisition of Goalwise is a significant step in that direction,” he added.
Header image courtesy of Niyo
