Discount broking firm, Upstox, is aiming to expand its client base to 10 crore investors as it widens its portfolio offerings to include fixed deposits to sovereign gold bonds and account aggregation services to become an all-in-one investment platform.
“Today, we have over one crore investors. We want to grow this base 10x in the next five years,” Shrini Viswanath, Co-founder, Upstox told businessline here on Monday.
Founded by Ravi Kumar and Shrini Viswanath as RKSV Securities, Upstox began its journey as a discount broking firm in 2009. Kavitha Subramanian later joined as a co-founder. Currently, the platform offers online investments in stocks, derivatives (F&Os), commodities, currencies, and mutual funds for investors and traders.
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Two modes
Viswanath said the platform offers two modes of investing: Pro, a platform for options trading and Invest, a platform for investment in stocks and mutual funds. “We are adding FDs, sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) and even account aggregation so investors will get a full view of their net worth including balances in their bank account under one platform,” he added.
He added that the platform witnessed a strong growth in the last 2-3 years. “60 per cent of the investors on the platform are first-time investors and 80 per cent of customers are coming from tier-2 and 3 cities,” he said.
Viswanath said despite the impact of macroeconomic challenges on the stock market, Upstox’s revenues grew by 44 per cent to cross ₹1,000 crore mark and also achieved break-even in FY23. “We are able to get the business to a position where it can generate profits and run on its own without any need for external funding,” he added.
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Kalaari Capital and former Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata were some of the early investors in Upstox, which is backed by global investment firm Tiger Global.
As of FY23, Upstox is the fourth largest brokerage with 9 per cent market share in active NSE clients after Zerodha (20 per cent), Groww (16 per cent) and Angel One (13 per cent).
Upstox’s market share as a percentage of active NSE clients fell from 14 per cent in FY22. However, Viswanath said the platform is not just focussed on active NSE clients but in increasing the overall client base which may include investors in mutual funds, FDs and SGBs.