Upside AI, a SEBI registered investment management startup has raised a seed round of $1.2 million, led by VC fund, Endiya Partners. Other investors in the round include Vijay Kedia – veteran stock market investor, Ajay Nanavati – Chairman of Quantum Advisors, previously Chairman of Syndicate Bank, MD of 3M, and Gopichand Katragadda – CEO of Myelin Foundry, ex-CTO of Tata Group.
Founded in Dec 2017 by Kanika Agarrwal, Nikhil Hooda, and Atanuu Agarrwal, Upside AI spent a year in beta and went live with its products to external investors in July 2019. It is registered with SEBI as a Portfolio Management Service (PMS). Today, Upside AI ranks among the top-performing PMS’ in the country delivering 71 percent cumulative returns since Jul 2019. In Jun 2021, PMS AIF World ranked Upside AI Multicap in the top 10 products of its peer group.
On the back of performance and organic referrals, their AUM has grown by 10x over the last year to over Rs 55 crore with funds from several HNIs, and family offices, the startup said.
Atanuu Agarrwal, Co Founder, Upside AI said, “Technology and rules-based investing already dominates mature markets; in fact, the top 5 hedge funds in the world are quant funds. Five to ten years from now this will play out in India, too, and we are excited to be at the forefront of this movement. Over the next couple of years, we want to add 1,000 HNIs, family offices, and institutional clients and grow to INR 1,000cr AUM. We believe the funding and guidance from Endiya and our esteemed angel investors will propel us towards this milestone.”
Upside AI aims to build India’s first end-to-end tech-led asset management company. It plans to use tech to run the entire chain from client onboarding to sophisticated investment tech to live tracking and reporting via a seamless UI/UX experience for clients. The funds raised will be used to hire senior sales talent with experience in the space, and hire best-in-class product engineers.
The lead investor in this round, Sateesh Andra, Managing Director, Endiya said: “The funding will help them build a robust pipeline of differentiated tech products and a network of large distributors, wealth managers, brokers, and IFAs.”
