Raise Financial Services, the parent company of the stock trading platform Dhan, has officially become a member of the unicorn club after raising a capital of $120 million. Hornbill Capital led this Series B round. Other notable investors like MUFG and BEENEXT also participated.

Strategic purpose and sustainable capital infusion

The enormous capital injection is an official valuation of the Mumbai-based fintech startup at $1.2 billion, solidifying its unicorn status. The financing round also incorporated several renowned public market investors. These were participants like Ramesh Damani, DSP Family Office, JM Financial Family Office, and Aashish Somaiyaa, among others. Such institutional and general investor support of the market underlines the belief in the overall strategy that Raise Financial Services is developing in the form of a technology-driven financial ecosystem.

The new capital that was raised during the Series B round has one strategic purpose is to jump-start the next stage of growth and technological development of the platform. The capital will be used mainly to expand Dhan operations, develop its technology and AI, and launch new products that invest and distribute financial services.

The founder and chief executive of Raise Financial Services said, “With this investment, we’re excited to grow, innovate and double down on our focus on Dhan.”

Quotation Source: MInt  

Key offerings and financial performance

0Dhan, which was released in late 2021, has grown swiftly and now has close to one million active users. The platform is built with a varied client base and provides a range of specialized services to power traders as well as long-term investors. The major products are Dhan Options Trader, Dhan Charts, and DhanHQ Trading APIs.

Dhan is an important component of the broader financial ecosystem Raise is creating. Other related platforms included in the portfolio include ScanX, a market research platform that provides real-time news, screeners, and analytics of Indian equities.

Upsurge is a trading education tool aimed at retail investors and dealers. Filter Coffee is a media company focused on providing short-form financial content produced by people in Gen Z and millennials, and Fuzz, an AI model trained on extensive financial data to give contextual and verified information to Indian investors and professionals.

The parent company of the discount broking platform Dhan, Moneylicious Securities, has seen its financial performance, which has been a major motivating factor behind the interest shown by investors. According to the filing documents with the credit rating agency Care Edge, the company recorded gross revenues of ₹379.2 crore (about $45 million) in FY24. This amount is an astonishing eight-fold increase over ₹48.4 crore (about $6.53 million) last reported only a year ago.

In FY24, the company recorded a net profit of ₹177.35 crore (around $21.3 million), compared to a loss of ₹26.69 crore (around $3.2 million) in FY23. This financial recovery was mostly driven by growth in brokerage revenue accrued through its retail-based clients.

Conclusion

The successful $120 million Series B round led by Hornbill Capital is the ultimate initiation of Raise Financial Services into the unicorn club, with a valuation of $1.2 billion. This milestone is recognition of the fast and profitable expansion of its stock trading system, Dhan, and the resiliency of its diversified technology-based ecosystem. The new capital will allow the company to intensively expand its operations, strengthen its AI, and intensely focus on technology to compete with the existing competitors in the rapidly growing market of digital financial services in India.