Groww, a Bengaluru-based online investment platform, announced that Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, has joined the company as an investor and advisor. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed yet.

Announcing this via Twitter, Lalit Keshre, Co-founder and CEO of Groww, said,

“Groww gets one of the world’s best CEOs as an investor and advisor. Thrilled to have @satyanadella join us in our mission to make financial services accessible in India.” 

Groww | Making Finance Simple

Founded by four former Flipkart executives, Lalit Keshre, Neeraj Singh, Harsh Jain, and Ishan Bansal, in 2017, Groww is on a mission to democratize access to financial services for millions of Indians responsibly. The platform enables users to invest in direct mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, and IPO for India’s growing retail investors. As per the startup, it has 20 million+ customers and 500+ team members currently. 

Last year, in October, Groww raised $251 million (around Rs 1,885 crore) at a valuation of $3 billion in a Series E funding round led by Iconiq Growth. Investors including Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast also participated in that round.  The round also saw participation from its existing investors Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global, and Propel Venture Partners.

Groww is reportedly working to introduce several more asset classes for its users to invest in. It competes with the likes of Upstox, Zerodha, and Paytm Money, among others. 

This development comes at a time when the participation of retail investors is at an all-time high. Between April and October 2021, a little less than 1.9 crore demat accounts were opened, averaging 26.7 lakh per month, as per a news report in the Times of India. 

As per Dinesh Thakkar, CMD, Angel Broking, the ongoing momentum in the stockbroking industry will last for at least 5-10 years as the market penetration is very low in India.

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