Wealthtech startup Centricity raises $20 million in round led by Lightspeed India Partners
Summary
Gurugram-based wealthtech startup Centricity has raised $20 million in a seed funding round led by Lightspeed India Partners , with participation from returning investors Burman Family Office and Shantanu Agarwal, among others.The company is now valued at $125 million, according to cofounder and CEO Manu Awasthy.The round also attracted investment from Korean venture capital firm Paramark VC, as well as a group of prominent family offices and angel investors, including MS Dhoni Family Office, NB Ventures Family Office, Aakash Chaudhry (former CEO of Aakash Institute ), Oyos Ritesh Agarwal, Nvidias Vishal Dhupar, MMG Group Family Office, and Action Tesa Family Office.Centricity plans to use the funds to scale its platforms, Invictus and One Digital , by investing in technology, talent, expanding private banking services, and pursuing strategic acquisitions.We wanted to go deep into India that is why we are catering to the segment of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) that have around 70% of Indias wealth. We are also catering to the huge Indian market through a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) framework purely because no company in India has successfully built a distribution network. Our idea is to build Indias largest financial distribution company serving almost everyone possible, Awasthy told ET.Founded in 2022 by former private bankers Awasthy, Gaurav Tiwari, Manish Sharma, Pushpendra Singh, and Aditya Shankar, Centricity provides a plug-and-play financial services platform for independent financial advisors, external asset managers and single-family offices to manage investment portfolios. The company plans to expand its distribution network to 120 cities over the next 12 to 18 months, up from 27 today.Centricity will also use the funds to hire 40-50 private bankers, who will exclusively manage UHNI clients while doubling its tech team from 75 to over 150 specialists who will focus on innovations like generative AI-led modules, insurtech , and broking-tech platforms.In February, Centricity achieved operating profitability, according to Awasthy. The startup previously raised $4 million in September 2022 , in a round led by the Burman Family Office, at a $20 million valuation.Centricitys vision of redefining wealth management with its one-of-a-kind solution is essential for Indias rapidly evolving financial landscape.