360 One WAM, India’s largest wealth manager focused on ultra-high-net-worth individuals, has agreed to acquire popular Indian mutual fund investment app ET Money for about $44 million.
360 One disclosed (PDF) the deal in a stock exchange filing Wednesday evening.
ET Money boasts over 900,000 transacting clients and tracks assets under management of approximately $8.3 billion.
The platform has been a popular choice for retail investors, with monthly mutual fund net flows of around $89.9 million.
ET Money is the second startup from local media powerhouse Times Internet’s portfolio to be sold in recent weeks.
Jio Financial and BlackRock to tap India’s wealth management and stock broking marketJio Financial Services, part of the Indian conglomerate Reliance, is forming a joint venture with U.S. asset manager BlackRock to set up a wealth management and stock broking business in India, the two firms said Monday.
The announcement follows BlackRock and Jio Financial launching a joint venture last year to offer asset management services in India.
The two companies plan to invest $150 million each in the joint venture, they said last year.
The expansion of BlackRock and Jio Financial’s partnership underscores Reliance’s growing ambitions in the financial services sector.
Since its public debut in August, Jio Financial Services has already expanded to insurance and lending businesses.
Avendus, India’s leading investment bank for venture deals, is looking to raise about $300 million for its private equity unit, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
With its third private equity fund, Avendus plans to write larger checks more frequently, one of the sources said.
The firm raised its second fund, amounting to around $185 million, in 2021.
Avendus employs over 150 bankers and was the top financial advisor in India last year.
In the past decade, similar to financial advisors in other regions, Avendus has diversified its offerings, venturing into wealth management, credit financing, and private equity.
The Harness offering also has two other components, serving as a marketplace for discovery of advisors and services and consumer financial insight tools.
In order to fill that need, Harness partnered with experienced tax advisors who in most cases already had a significant roster of clients.
So when those advisors partnered with Harness, many of those clients became clients of Harness as well.
Put simply, the new platform “powers the collaboration between tax advisors and their clients,” the company said.
About 75% of Harness’ clients come through advisors that join the platform.
TechCrunch has learned that the program, known as the “Startup Qatar Investment Program,” is backed by a Qatar Development Bank (QDB)-managed $100 million fund.
Like most venture ecosystems, several of these requirements are mandated by limited partners, primarily sovereign wealth funds, in the Gulf upon these venture capital firms.
Just last week, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund unveiled a $1 billion venture capital fund of funds dedicated to international and regional venture capital funds.
For Qatar, launching its fund of funds and startup program signifies a crucial step toward developing its tech ecosystem to rival its neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Last year, the MENA region experienced a 23% decline in venture capital activity compared to the global average of 42%.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is launching a $1 billion venture capital (VC) fund of funds for international and regional venture capital funds, the sovereign wealth fund announced on Monday.
Similar to typical fund-of-funds structures, QIA’s initiative will invest indirectly through other VC funds but also make targeted co-investments with participating funds.
These funds, aiming to reduce reliance on oil, have increasingly poured money into tech startups in the region, hoping to nurture a thriving venture capital industry.
However, unlike Jada, the PIF’s $1 billion fund of funds and Saudi Venture Capital (SVC), which targets both venture capital and private equity funds, QIA’s fund of funds focuses solely on venture capital funds, marking the first of its kind in the region.
Historically, these wealth funds have backed foreign startups primarily in the U.S. and Asia, with limited ties to the Gulf region.
Today, Kakao Entertainment announced it has secured $966 million (1.2 trillion won) in financing from major investors such as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and PWARP Investment of Singapore. The…
