Stock broker Groww in talks to acquire wealth-tech platform Fisdom

13 Mar 2025, 01:30 PM

The talks between Fisdom and Groww are early as the stock broking major is also in negotiations with a few other firms for a potential investment or acquisition.

Team Head&Tale

Groww is reportedly in talks to acquire wealth-tech startup Fisdom at $140-$160 million. According to media reports, the country's largest stock broking platform is looking to enter the wealth management space - likely through an acquisition.

“Fisdom has been in the market for raising a financing round and is evaluating a few term sheets...But now there is a strategic interest from Groww which is also being considered," reported ET.

Having said that, the talks between Fisdom and Groww are early as the stock broking major is also in negotiations with a few other online wealthtech startups and offline firms for a potential investment or acquisition, the news daily stated.

While both Groww and Fisdom are registered stock brokers, Fisdom is also a portfolio management services (PMS) licence holder. 

Recently, ET also reported that Groww is entering into wealth management and is expected to start offering these services through a separate arm under the brand 'W'.

The new unit will cater to high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) by offering portfolio management services (PMS) and alternative investment funds (AIF) to its 15 million users across its broking and mutual fund businesses.

Groww began as a direct mutual fund investment platform, expanding into stock trading. It is currently the country's largest broking app with over 12 million active traders, ahead of Zerodha (8.1 million) and Angel One (7.6 million), as per the latest data from the National Stock Exchange. Groww also runs an asset management company besides providing credit through a non-banking financial company.

Fisdom’s existing shareholders including Nasper’s PayU, which owns around 25% stake, are looking to sell their holdings through the transaction. Quona Capital and Saama Capital are also investors in Fisdom.

The startup, founded by Subramanya SV and Anand Dalmia in 2015, has raised $47 million in total funding till date. During FY24, Fisdom reported Rs 84.3 crore in revenues and a net loss of Rs 57.4 crore. 

Groww, run by Billionbrains Garage Ventures, recently appointed investment bankers --JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd for a potential initial public offering. The company is expected to proceed with an IPO this year, and may seek to raise $750 million or more at a valuation of $7-$8 billion.

Founded in 2016 by four Flipkart executives, Groww is one of the largest stock broking firm and has more than 50 million customers. It includes Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, Peak XV among its investors. 

Recently, the Bengaluru-based company moved its domicile from the US back to India -- which also saw its fair market valuation being reduced to under $2 billion, down from its previous $3 billion.

It paid Rs 1,340 crore ($160 million) in taxes to the US government during the process of bringing back its parent entity to India, based on this new valuation, ET had then reported.

Groww's revenue from operations surged to Rs 3,145 crore in FY24, up from Rs 1,435 crore in FY23. The stockbroking platform reported a net loss of Rs 805 crore in FY24, largely due to a one-time tax payment of Rs 1,340 crore for relocating its domicile to India. Despite this, the company remained operationally profitable, with profits of Rs 535 crore in FY24 compared to Rs 458 crore in FY23.