In September 2021, Vineet Agrawal and Saurav Ghosh two finance professionals launched Jiraaf to build a convenient and credible platform for everything related to fixed income for investors.
As an executive from the Piramal Fund Management, Vineet witnessed a number of big transactions and was frequently attracted to invest as well. However, like him many investors found the threshold of entry, which ranges from the range of Rs 1 to 2 crore difficult.
This is the origin of the Bengaluru-based digitally driven alternative investment company, which provides different fixed-income investment options, which include invoice discounting, corporate debt and asset-backed leasing venture debt, revenue-based financing.
The USP
Jiraaf isn’t an aggregator, Vineet clarifies.
Through its supply side the company exclusively creates and curates investment opportunities to retail investors. Its technology-driven solutions make their investment process and portfolio monitoring simple.
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Finally, Jiraaf reaches out to its customers via traditional and online channels to respond to their concerns.
The founder is a BITS Pilani as well as an IIM Ahmedabad alumni, the co-founder has 10 years ‘ working in finance in the corporate sector with the real estate industry.
How does it work
Vineet saysthat Jiraaf was the very first platform that is horizontal that offers a variety of fixed income sector, which means that there is something to suit all retail investors’ financial needs and risk-aversion.
They include a tenor that ranges between 30 days and three years, as well as an yield that ranges from 8 to 20%, allowing investors to build a truly diverse portfolio.
Co-founder Saurav Adds Each offered possibility on the marketplace has been through an extensive due diligence assessment of credit, as well as a structuring procedures.
In just a little over an entire calendar year Jiraaf is witnessing transactions that exceed Rs 375 million using its system.
Sanjay Guha, the former President of UK as well as Nordics, Coca-Cola, as also an angel investor and mentor who is a part of the startup claims,
While it does not collect any subscription charges from investors, it does operate in a commission-based system with its clients, i.e., the companies that require capital that includes Aris Infra, Wadhwa, 1K Kirana Bazaar, Everest Fleet, Calpro, Home Credit etc.
With more than 50 employees, Saurav says Jiraaf’s staff is well-versed in finance, covering corporate banking, investment banking private equity, as well as venture capital.
The supply side of the startup is led by IIM Lucknow graduate Vikas Bansal who is a veteran banker.
The Bengaluru startup is hoping to grow its team to 75 before considering expanding its geographical footprint.
The month of June was when Jiraaf has raised $7.5 million in an A round of funding from Accel Partners, Mankekar Family Office, Aspire Family Office (Dr Bhaskar Shah), and other angel investors.
Other platforms that compete in this market are Wint Wealth, Grip Invest and TradeCred as well as others.
Jiraaf is unique, as the majority of these offerings were created as single-product vertical-focused platforms. We created the team and the process to be an asset-based platform that allows portfolio creation Vineeet elaborates.
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The future and the present
Based on Saurav, India’s alternative investment market for investors who are retail is at an infancy stage.
He adds, Studies indicate that alternate investments will increase by 1% in the portfolio of an investor to around 20% over the course of this decade. Furthermore, the these market conditions have increased the necessity for fixed-income products. India is home to nearly $2 trillion in fixed deposits, and alternative investments could make a difference.
