- Funding round led by SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of Susquehanna International Group (“SIG”),joined by other key investors including Y-Combinator, Das Capital, Goodwater Capital, Beyond Next Ventures, Soma Capital, Ace & Company, Hauz Khas Ventures
- The company will use the capital to strengthen its technology and business teams and onboard new financial institutions, and reach 15,000+ pincodes in India
- ESOP Buybacks to share success with employees
- Received Insurance Broking License (General & Life) from IRDAI
GroMo, a FinTech platform for distribution of financial products,has raised USD 11 Million in its Series A funding round led by SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of SIG, a global proprietary trading and private equity investment firm. The other key investors include Y-Combinator, Das Capital, Goodwater Capital, Beyond Next Ventures, Soma Capital, Ace & Company, Hauz Khas Ventures. The company has also received funding from prominent angel investors like Kunal Shah (Cred), Niraj Singh (Spinny), Ramakant Sharma (Livspace), Alok Mittal (Indifi), Utsav Somani (iSeed, AngelList India), Ashish (Innoven), Abhishek Goyal (Tracxn) and Nitin Gupta (Uni Cards).
Founded by two IIT Delhi alumni, Ankit Khandelwal and Darpan Khurana, GroMo aims to empower its wide network of trusted agents to provide access to financial products to Tier 2-and-beyond cities of India, which have remained significantly underserved so far.The company has built a tech-enabled social commerce platform that helps agents not only improve access to better financial products for consumers, but also bridge the financial literacy gap by helping them choose the right offerings. Currently, GroMo is distributing a broad spectrum of 100+ financial products across Insurance, Investments, Credit Cards, Loans,Saving & Demat accounts, etc. from brands such as IDFC Bank, Jupiter Money, Axis Bank, Freecharge, etc.
GroMo has successfully built a network of 1.2 Million+ agents on its platform. The team is 80+ member strong, majorly from premier institutes such as IITs and IIMs. The company plans to utilize the capital to scale up hiring across senior management in technology, product, marketing, business, category management and HR functions, with plans to double the headcount in the coming 6-12 months.It will also use the funding to enter new business partnerships, especially with BFSI players (Insurance companies, Credit Card companies,Banks, Stockbrokers, NBFCs, etc) to help them expand their reach.
Talking about the Series A funding, Ankit Khandelwal, CEO & Co-Founder, GroMo said, “As per SEBI’s recent report, only 27% of India’s population is financially literate which highlights the need for increased customer support especially in Tier 2, 3 cities and beyond. Our vision is to drive financial inclusion in underserved markets by bridging this gap through face-to-face interaction, handholding by our agents, and after-sales support. Any financial brand can expand their customer acquisition footprint through our base of trained agents who are able to earn significant income by leveraging their social network.”
Darpan Khurana, Co-Founder, GroMo said, “We are excited for the journey ahead. With the support of our investors, teams, and agents, we have aggressive plans to scale up the business significantly in the coming few quarters by expanding our partnerships with financial institutions.The long-term goal is to become India’s largest tech-enabled distribution platform and enable 10M+ agents to earn from the GroMo platform. Recognizing that our employees are our most valuable asset to grow, we completed an ESOP buyback in June of this year to reward their loyalty and contributions.”
Bhavani Rana,Investment Adviser to SIG said, “We are excited about GroMo’s approach to use technology to attract, train, and manage people to become successful agents for distributing financial products and target the traditionally underserved markets in India.”
Working towards the aim of improving agent earnings by allowing for a complete suite of financial products, the company is looking to add partnerships with BFSI players, with a special focus on the Credit cards and Insurance verticals. GroMo recently received an Insurance Broking License (General & Life) from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
About GroMo
GroMo is a Fintech platform that aims to provide access to financial products to the underserved Tier 2-3-and-beyond cities of the country through its strong network of 1.2 million+ agents. The company has built a tech-enabled social commerce platform bringing together consumers, agents and BFSI companies providing a wide range of products such as Insurance, Investments, Credit Cards, Loans,Saving & Demat accounts, etc.
