What is the rationale behind starting a mutual fund investment services platform?
Kuvera.in started in 2016, to fill a basic gap in the delivery of personal finance solution - availability of reliable advice tailor-made to an individual’s life. We started with Mutual Funds because mutual funds are one of the most practically relevant products for a retail investor.
Conceptually, as simple as it may seem, multiple factors had also made it the most complicated as well as ‘non-transparent’ space to invest in. Our approach began by solving this primary need - making it simpler for investors and applying AI through a ‘gamified platform’ to build-in ease and interest in MF investment.
What it did was become an industry game changer by reducing the sheer processes that involved the investor to go to a bank or an advisor to seek advice, then fill forms, attach a cheque and deposit it in the mutual fund office. Now an app allowed doing all of this and buying your first fund in under 15-20 minutes, and that too on your fingertips.
Why did you choose to offer only direct plans?
Our idea behind offering only direct plans is to build a platform that can be used by all types of investors. We believe that if we are delivering solutions using technology there is no reason for us to be in a commission-based business. Value-added services can always be nominally charged additionally. We have various such addons such as TradeSmart, TaxHarvesting etc
What is your business model and how do you differentiate it from peers?
Kuvera was the first platform to offer direct plans. Hence, our business model was anyway different from others when we started. Instead, we indirectly forced a lot of other financial service providers to shift to direct plans. Our endeavour is to be an integral part of our customer’s financial investments lifecycle and we have constantly evolved our platform on the basis of inputs and feedback from our die-hard community of ‘Kuverians’.
With so many new players, the financial services space constantly provides learnings to imbibe and there is always space for more.
At a time when many platforms are offering MF products, how do you get investors to know about Kuvera?
In just over 2 years ours is a community of 3 Lakh+ Kuverians who happily draw others through their experience on our platform. Early on, we invested heavily in ensuring we had our eyes and ears glued-into customer feedback and built-in a capability to modify ourselves through user feedback. This has brought us a long way now. We are constantly communicating and parallelly listening. To a kuverian, we are always just an email away!
What are your product offerings and how do you look to diversify it further?
Currently, our platform offers investing in mutual funds and digital gold. Here we have concentrated on ease of use and creating a ‘responsive’ platform. We are constantly scouting for opportunities to deliver access points across all our customers’ investment lifecycle needs. Providing solutions around insurance, direct equity and lending at some point.
What is the typical age group that visits Kuvera and how do you guide them to suitable products?
The typical investor is 30-35 years as they are more comfortable with digital transactions. Providing research-backed investment solutions digitally is the solution they seek. The gamification of investing in mutual funds for us have a come a long way, with AI backed investments decision that help you track progress and ensuring liquidity at a short notice on your fingertips (subject to the individual’s investment portfolio).
The margin for error as a ‘robo investor’ is minimal. There is enough space for the traditional and the platform led investment opportunities to flourish. What matters most is, these collectively increases the overall pie of financial investment in the mutual funds space.
In 2019, Kuvera had raised $4.5 million in series A funding from a UK-based venture capital company Eight Roads. How is Kuvera looking to utilize this funding?
The funding is helping us build a robust gamified platform that is constantly evolving for the better. Further, we are actively evaluating opportunities to be present across all the financial lifecycle investment needs of an individual.
How do you see Kuvera growing in the next 5 years? With over Rs.6,000 crore AUA currently, what is your next target?
We want to keep doing what we are currently doing but with a constantly growing community of ‘Kuverians’. We have a fundamentally great product that provides easy access to investments and over time, becomes an integral part of an individual’s life.
Our motive is to reach more number of investors and be a part of their investment journey as a trusted platform.
