Lack of knowledge of the Indian stock market is the main reason the majority of Indians avoid investing their money in equity markets.
But those with financial literacy know the importance of investing in the stock market. And for India to become a developed economy, it needs to have people with knowledge of financial markets.
Today’s story is about an Indian startup that lets individuals understand stock market investment through its app, and interact with communities without using any real money.
The social investment startup recently raised $5 million in a pre-Series A round of funding led by Roots Ventures and Velo Partners.
Startup Story: StockGro | India’s First Social Investment Platform
Founding Team
Started by Ajay Lakhotia, StockGro is a Bengaluru-headquartered social commerce platform where individuals can discuss, share information, or ideas on stock market investment in a game-like environment.
Ajay is a venture capitalist turned entrepreneur who started StockGro to demystify the entire journey of buying and selling stocks through its customised app but without involving any real money.
How StockGro Started?
The idea of StockGro was incepted in the mind of Ajay when he realised that people mainly based their decisions on shares on mere interactions with their circle of friends, family or acquaintances.
Understanding the scenario and realising the potential for a business idea, Ajay started to build a small team to create the technology infrastructure necessary to make it simple for any user to make a virtual stock market transaction.
So, to provide ordinary individuals with a platform where they can understand the stock market investment and interact with communities without using any real money, Ajay started StockGro.
[Read: Lending Startup Indifi Is Helping Small Business Grow By Offering Loans]USP Of StockGro
StockGro apps enable users to build their own portfolio, buy or sell a stock, and interact with others to share information, insights, and knowledge.
The platform does not let its users participate in the actual buying or selling of stocks but helps users understand what the stock market is all about, like the terms, rules, nuances, etc.
Users of StockGro can also enter into various leagues which are available on the app, where they can participate in competitions and based on their performance, they stand to win rewards ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh.
As per Ajay, the whole idea was to gamify the platform so users could create their own investment circles, dabble in trading, and remove any fear attached to the stock market.
Ajay says,
“The members at StockGro do not lose money while participating in trading but will be rewarded if they perform.”
Present Situation Of StockGro
Since June 2020, when StockGro first began operations, StockGro has grown from 400 users to over one million users currently. Around 80% of the platform’s users are new to stock markets, and their profile ranges from students, working professionals, housewives, to even retired individuals.
StockGro has already held talks with a few stock brokerage houses regarding how it can become the via medium to help people transit into actual investment platforms.
Future Plans
StockGro aims to touch a million users in the next couple of months and create investment platforms in segments, such as gold, mutual funds, bonds etc. The startup also plans to start other trading activities of stock markets like futures & options (F&O), short selling etc.
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