Six-month-old investment advisory startup Dezerv raises $7 million

• Dezerv plans to use this funding to build a strong team as well as launch and scale their investment technology platform.
• The company’s seed round was co-led by Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners India.
• Last month, Amazon made its first investment in the Indian investment advisory startup smallcase.

Wealth management platform Dezerv, which helps individuals make investment decisions, has raised $7 million seed funding just six months after its launch.

Dezerv plans to use this funding to build a strong team as well as launch and scale their investment technology platform. The company also aims to help young professionals make right investment decisions while investing in mutual funds.

The company claims to have brought together a team of investing and technology experts with academic experience from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Southern California (USC), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The company further claims that its team includes individuals from global companies like JP Morgan, UBS, Uber, Brookfield, Morgan Stanley and Clevertap.

Dezerv’s seed round was co-led by Elevation Capital and Matrix Partners India. Whiteboard Capital and Blume Founders Fund also participated in the round, along with 20 angel investors.

This included Cred’s Kunal Shah, Ofbusiness’ Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra, Acko’s Varun Dua, Meesho’s Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, BharatPe’s Shashvat Nakrani and Suhail Sameer, among others.

The company was set up in April 2021 by former IIFL Wealth executives — Sandeep Jethwani, Vaibhav Porwal and Sahil Contractor. It aims to offer a “fresh approach and platform” to help underserved Indian professionals access investment expertise.

“Dezerv will leverage the digital adoption and scalable investment infrastructure of post-pandemic India, coupled with decades of our experience to bring world-class investing to Indian professionals,” the company’s founders said in a joint statement.

The wealth management startup, citing its study, noted that 75% working professionals say that they need guidance on their portfolio and investment. “Today, this market comprises 30 million households of working professionals in the country who are adrift without a clear solution to manage their growing pool of wealth,” the report added.

Dezerv competes with another wealth management startup smallcase, which raised funding from Amazon only last month. Bengaluru-based fintech startup Smallcase Technologies raised a $40 million round led by Faering Capital, with participation from PremjiInvest.

The company provides users with weighted portfolios of stocks and exchange traded funds (ETF) for retail investors to invest in using their personal existing demat accounts.

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