Segment – B2C Wealth (Debt) market; Online Bond Platform Provider
About
The company was founded in 2020 by these Founders and Directors, who are all mechanical engineering graduates. The company was founded in Nashik, Maharashtra, India, and it now has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The product is an online investment platform with a primary focus on fixed-income securities. The online platform allows users to buy, sell, and invest in fixed deposits, bonds, mutual funds, and gold bonds.
In November 2022, it came under the purview of SEBI’s circular on online bond platforms, under which it had to register as a stockbroker in the debt segment and then get an online bond platform license. The company received the license in July 2023.
According to SEBI’s 2022 consultation paper, WintWealth had 9766 users registered on the platform at the time. Elsewhere, the number of users have been mentioned to be over 14k.
Wint Wealth has raised $19.9 million in four rounds of funding. It will hold its first funding round on July 10, 2020. It received a $14.4 million Series A funding round on May 20, 2022. The most recent round of 14 investors was led by Eight Roads Ventures’ Wealth, whose 31 institutional investors include Zerodha, AssetYogi, and Rainmatter Technology. Eight Roads Ventures is Wint Wealth’s largest institutional investor. Among the Wint Wealth Angel Investors are Kunal Shah, CRED founder, and 65 others.
The Wint Wealth site mentions six legal entities – Fourdegreewater services private limited, Fourdegreewater finvest private limited, Fourdegreewater capital private limited, Fourdegreewater marketing private limited, Fourdegreewater solutions private limited, and Fourdegreewater private limited.
Key staff
Ajinkya Kulkarni, CEO – headed the Merchant Lending business at mSwipe, where he built a portfolio of Rs 25Cr+. His personal finance insights won him the coveted, LinkedIn Top Voices badge in 2020.
Abhik Patel, CPO – Abhik led growth and operations at Shop 101. He led a large team to solidify the trajectory of the company. He also co-founded Creditperiod a fintech startup, which was later acquired by Flexiloans.
Shashank Chimaladari, CTO – Shashank was the Tech lead for the mobile team at Shop101. He was one of the earliest team members at Shop101 and played a pivotal role in scaling their tech. He carries a rich 7 years of technical experience with him.
Anshul Gupta, CIO – Anshul has conceptualised and launched many innovative financial products. He was the head of Product Development at Northern Arc Capital where he has structured 250+ transactions worth more than Rs 25,000 Crores.
Philosophy/key insight
Wint Wealth is aiming to ‘democratise’ debt investments by curating fixed interest investments offering 9–11% for investment amounts starting at INR 10,000. Their insight was that Indians like getting 2-3% more than fixed deposits but had to do too much research to get this return, other than from perhaps small finance banks. Wealthier investors do get access to fixed interest opportunities through their private wealth managers but the ‘mass affluent’ don’t, hence an online platform could serve this segment.
Media
Wint Wealth bags online bond platform from SEBI, Economic times Etech, July 26, 2023, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/wint-wealth-bags-online-bond-platform-licence-from-sebi/articleshow/102135370.cms?from=mdr
Wint Wealth, a Bengaluru-based investment platform, has been granted an online bond platform provider (OBPP) license by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The startup will be able to facilitate corporate bond investments for retail investors with the license. The rule, which is set to take effect in November 2022, will protect retail investors while also authenticating online bond platforms. Since its inception in 2020, Wint Wealth has facilitated over Rs 1,000 crore in corporate bond investments for over 50,000 investors and raised approximately $20 million.
Interview on Paisa Vaisa podcast, June 2023
Ajinkya Kulkarni explains new SEBI regulations.
Wint wealth raises undisclosed round from celebrity Finfluencers , Livemint, January 28, 2022 https://www.livemint.com/companies/start-ups/wint-wealth-raises-undisclosed-round-from-celebrity-finfluencers-11643343585241.html
Ankur Warikoo, Tanmay Bhatt, Pranjal Kamra, and CA Rachna Ranade are among the 15 celebrity finfluencers who have contributed to Wint Wealth, a debt investment aggregator platform. The money will be used for marketing and growth. In order to secure future funding, the platform will also benefit from their extensive network. These finfluencers will play a critical role in introducing and educating retail investors about the alternative investment segment, with a combined reach of 40 million. Wint Wealth aims to grow 10-fold in the next 12 months and to have over 1500 crores of AUM by July 2022. Ajinkya Kulkarni, the platform’s CEO and Co-Founder, described the round as a successful litmus test of the platform’s standing in the debt investment segment.
SEBI’s regulations for online bonds platforms will increase retail investors’ trust and market participation, Ajinkya Kulkarni, June 2023
In the past few years, online financial technology platforms have helped everyday people understand and take part in financial markets. At the same time, a regulatory body in India called SEBI has been actively looking out for the interests of these regular investors. In July 2022, SEBI talked about the growth of platforms that let people buy corporate bonds online. They wanted to make rules to ensure these platforms follow good practices and handle any problems investors have. In November 2022, SEBI changed its rules to say that these online platforms must register like stock brokers if they want to help people buy bonds.
I believe these rules for online bond platforms are a good step. They will make more regular people join the market and have more chances to invest their money in different ways. Here are three important benefits for regular investors:
Preventing Misleading Advertisements and Risky Products: Before these rules, there were times when investors were sold complicated bonds without knowing the risks. Now, SEBI says these platforms can only offer listed bonds or ones that will be listed publicly. This keeps investors safe from buying risky bonds.
Better Advertisements: SEBI’s rules also make sure advertisements for these bonds are clear and truthful. They can’t use famous people in ads and must be honest about the risks. SEBI will also watch these ads to make sure they’re okay.
More Information for Investors: In the past, different platforms showed bond information in different ways. Now, they all have to follow SEBI’s rules for showing important details about bonds. This helps investors make smarter choices.
Solving Problems: Just like any business, these platforms might face issues with investors. SEBI says they need to have a way to fix these problems. This builds trust and encourages more people to use these platforms.
There are more benefits, but these are some of the key ones. As investors become more confident about bonds, they will likely encourage others to invest too. This can also lead to more companies using bonds to get funding.
Why Ajinkya Kulkarni Didn’t Choose Harvard and Started @WintWealthYT Instead, Learnapp, 30th April 2023
The video is divided into three sections, each focusing on a different aspect of an entrepreneur’s journey of Ajinkya Kulkarni. The first section focuses on the entrepreneur’s childhood, education, and early experiences, emphasizing the importance of money, education, and family values. The second section discusses the entrepreneur’s use of LinkedIn to connect with potential customers, create engaging content, and establish trust, ultimately leading to the development of a successful startup. The third section delves into the entrepreneur’s unconventional approach to social media, transparent startup culture, and evolving relationship with money, drawing lessons from literature and visionary figures.
Analyst questions
Why did you choose to set up in the bond market? What was/is the problem in the Indian bond market for retail investors? How does trading in bond markets compare with that in stock markets?
Why shouldn’t retail investors simply invest in debt mutual funds? Aren’t you kind of ‘replicating’ a mutual fund portfolio by offering a ‘curated’ list and suggesting they invest in at least 10 bonds?
What is your business model? Given that you charge 1% as well, isn’t it the same outcome as debt mutual funds?
What is your target segment? How big is the segment between the one that wants more than fixed deposits and understands bond and the one that is served by private wealth firms?
Why did you move from offering covered bonds to senior secured bonds? How can regulation affect your business?
Why did SEBI step in to regulate you and others as online bond platform providers (OBPP) in November 2022? How did you have to change your business or offering? How has it affected your back-office with having to offer more payment options etc?
Do retail investors understand that the credit rating system, the difference between credit and liquidity risk, mark-to-market, price discovery etc and that they are basically investing in high yield? What is your approach to investor education?
How do you think the Indian bond market will evolve? How will your business evolve? Or do you have other plans within the existing environment and regulation?
Prepared by – Ajinkya Lasure, August 2023, peer reviewed by MMI Team
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