The zero-commission investment platform helps Indian investors easily diversify their portfolio by investing in the world’s largest stock market

Vested Finance, a California-headquartered online investment platform that enables Indian investors to invest in the US stock market, has raised USD 12 million in Series A funding. Ayon Capital led the round while the company received continued support from existing investors Tenoneten, Ovo Fund, Wedbush Ventures, IPV, and Upscale. New investors including 9Unicorns, Ankur Warikoo (ex-CEO of Groupon India), Dhruvil Sanghvi (CEO at Loginext), and Saumil Parekh (VP of Marketing at PharmEasy) have also come on board. Content creators like Akshat Shrivastava, Mukul Malik (Asset Yogi), Sharan Hedge (Finance with Sharan), Dhruv Rathee, Shashank Udupa, and others, are also investing.

Vested Finance stays committed to its aim of providing access to global wealth creation opportunities in an easy and cost-effective manner. A major step in this direction was achieved through the launch of Vested Direct which enables Indian investors to begin their US investing journey in just one day. Earlier it would take around 5 days. Vested Direct also substantially reduces the fund transfer costs with zero transaction fees and a fixed forex markup of 1.2%, one of the lowest in the industry. Recently, they also introduced features that allow investors to invest in stocks and ETFs on a recurring basis and to create their own portfolios (Vests).

Speaking about fund raise, Viram Shah, Co-Founder & CEO, Vested Finance said, “Today, the location where we are born determines the kind of wealth creation opportunities we get access to and that is unfair. Most of our portfolios lack global diversification. We want to enable investors across the globe to access global wealth creation opportunities in an easy and cost-effective manner. The growth that we have seen over the years is testimony to the interest of Indian investors in investing in the US markets. We want to use the funds to scale our team globally and expand our product suite to launch complementary products in the cross-border space while continuing to grow the core US investing user base.”

Speaking about the fund raise, Rahul Pagidipati, Managing Partner, Ayon Capital said, “For Ayon, leading this new round was an easy decision. Viram and his team are committed to their mission of making diverse markets accessible to Indian investors. Moreover, they have a strong culture and have shown their ability to be creative on the strategy side and execute with discipline. Vested is an integral part of Ayon's plan to provide a diversified suite of products for the large and growing Indian investor community to preserve and build their wealth.”

Vested Finance has processed more than $250 million in transactions in 2021 and also tripled the deposits on the platform in 2021. The company’s global team is based across India, USA, and Canada. To facilitate Indian investors to invest in U.S. markets, Vested has partnered with more than 35 partners including brokers, fintechs, and wealth management firms in India, including the likes of Axis Securities, Kuvera, Angel Broking, and 5Paisa. The company also offers easy-to-understand content on the US markets on its platform to help customers make informed investment decisions. Some of the other product features include instant account opening, Vests or curated portfolios that comprise stocks and/or ETFs, and easy tax filing based on Indian tax laws.