Wealthy's ₹130-cr fundraise fuels bet on adviser-led wealth-tech

Even as DIY investing apps dominate headlines, a chunk of mutual fund money in India is still routed through human advisers.

- Salman S.H.

While popular investing apps such as Zerodha and Groww race to cut out middlemen, there is Wealthy that is making a contrarian, high stakes bet on keeping human advisers at the core of India’s wealth technology stack.

The Bengaluru-based firm has raised ₹130 crore in fresh funding, led by Bertelsmann India Investments, to deepen its artificial intelligence-led platform for mutual fund distributors (MFDs), with participation from existing investor Alphawave Global, new investor Shepherd's Hill and a clutch of tech entrepreneurs.

Instead of going direct to consumers, Wealthy looks to sell software and AI tools to MFDs—independent mutual fund distributors who still intermediate roughly 80% of India’s retail equity wealth—so they can handle know-your-customer checks, compliance and portfolio reviews faster, and sell investment products more efficiently while staying the primary advisers to clients.