PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus, today announced its investment in Fisdom, a high growth consumer wealthtech platform in India. PayU leads the fresh round of investment worth USD 11 million through the acquisition of a minority stake in the company. In addition to PayU, current investors Saama Capital and Quona Capital also participated in this round. This move marks PayU’s entry into a new segment, wealthtech, and demonstrates the company’s commitment towards investing in and building a broader fintech ecosystem in India around core payments and lending businesses.
Founded by Subramanya SV and Anand Dalmia, Fisdom is a high-growth wealthtech company operating a unique partnership model with banks which enables access to a large customer base and the distribution network, driving both the scalability and efficiency of the platform. Fisdom enables consumers to make smart investment decisions for their long-term financial health by helping them invest in multiple products including mutual funds, insurance, pension funds, digital gold, etc. Users can manage investments from their mobile phones in an easy and intuitive app interface.
The Indian wealth management industry, which has experienced significant growth in the last 10 years (21% CAGR 2011-2017), is expected to remain strong, driven by the digital transformation that is opening the industry to the mass market (800mn+ potential customers). As per the industry reports, Indians have more than US$1.8 trillion of their wealth in low-yield bank deposits and often don’t invest in capital markets for various reasons – such as low financial literacy, low trust in market dynamics, and inertia to act. Fisdom fills an important gap in the Indian ecosystem by offering customized wealth management solutions to the vast majority of the population, largely unserved or underserved by traditional financial advisors.
Speaking on the investment, Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU India, said “This investment marks PayU’s entry into the wealth tech segment and is in line with the company’s strategic goal of building a comprehensive digital fintech ecosystem connecting merchants, consumers, and banks locally. Fisdom, with its multi-product strategy and a robust and scalable digital platform, offers immense cross-selling opportunities. The company has a strong management team led by experienced founders and we are happy to partner with them and work towards providing a broader fin-tech platform around core payments and lending business. With this investment, PayU is one step closer to offering payments, lending, and wealth tech services in a single stack.”
Subramanya S V, Co-founder, and CEO, Fisdom added, “We are delighted to have PayU on board in our journey of building Fisdom into a leading digital wealth platform bringing in simplicity, access, and trust for millions of underserved customers. This investment allows us to continue innovating in order to better serve our consumers including bringing new products like insurance and broking. PayU, being one of the leading fintech players in the country, provides an immense opportunity that we are keen to explore. We are very happy that our earlier investors Saama Capital and Quona continue to support in our endeavor.”
PayU is one of the leading fintech investors in the region. The company is focused on empowering people through best-in-industry financial services. Fisdom’s aim to make wealth advisory available for all is a perfect fit for PayU, as the company works towards providing access to broader financial products and services.