Silicon Valley Firm Omidyar Network Backs Scripbox
The philanthropic investment firm led the company's Series B investment round
Bengaluru, June 28, 2016: Scripbox, one of India’s fastest growing investment services, announced today that it has closed a Series B round investment led by the philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network. The announcement comes at a time when Scripbox is working towards establishing itself as the most trusted brand for savings and investments in mutual funds. Funds raised on this round are aimed to give thrust to Scripbox’s vision of empowering every salaried individual with actionable money skills.
This investment follows series A funding led by Accel Partners last year. Existing investors, including Accel Partners and some angels, have also made additional investments along with Omidyar Network.
Since inception in 2012, Scripbox–a friendly investment service—has been working towards changing the way Indians save and grow their wealth. It has recently been ranked as the second most influential financial services brand worldwide on LinkedIn. With its jargon free, simplified approach to growing wealth, Scripbox has grown its customer presence to 370 cities and towns, across all the states and union territories of India, and increased its customer base 10 fold over the last 18 months.
“As India moves from promoting adoption and usage of financial services to building consumers’ financial health, simplified offerings like Scripbox will become more strategic,” said Anuradha Ramachandran, director, Investments, Omidyar Network. “Scripbox is set to make a fundamental difference to the way Indians save and invest in their future, turning a deep understanding of consumers’ needs into an innovative technology-led platform.”
Commenting on the investment, E R Ashok Kumar, CEO of Scripbox, said, “While we are working on helping young earners on their path to wealth creation, having support from Omidyar Network is a tremendous boost for our efforts. This association also reflects our similar brand philosophies and vision.”
About Scripbox
Scripbox helps people move from indecision to action in a critical area of their life –investments. It focuses on the best investment option for wealth creation– mutual funds and explains financial concepts in easy and plain English. Most investors have trouble deciding which mutual funds to invest in – there are 5000+ out there. Scripbox offers a portfolio of 8 scientifically pre-selected funds in 3 categories – equity, debt and tax saving and helps you invest in these funds through the online portal without any charges. All the best practices of prudent investing have been automated by Scripbox, namely, unbiased & scientific fund selection, annual review, rebalancing, and tax considerations. With a simple online registration, consumers can start building wealth for their families.
With 160cr in AUM and 70% of customers as first time investors, Scripbox’s goal is to encourage young Indians to develop a long term investing habit.