Fintech app Jar to go beyond gold, offer securities via new subsidiary
Mikrogull savings and investment app Jar plans to go beyond gold and offer securities such as exchange traded funds (ETFs) and sovereign gold bonds (SGB) through its platform.
According to a Registrar of Companies (ROC) filing assessed by Your storyhas the company received the board’s approval to form one subsidiary under the name ‘Safejar Advisors Private Limited’ for this purpose. The name of the subsidiary is subject to approval by the ROC.
As per the regulation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, a company engaged in registered investment advisory activity cannot engage in the distribution of unregulated commodities such as digital gold. Therefore, the company has proposed forming a wholly owned subsidiary to obtain the licenses for expansion, according to the filing.
In line with its business diversification plan, Jar will expand its offerings to cover ETFs, SGBs and other securities through its platform.
Founded by Nishchay AG and Misbah Ashraf, the Bengaluru-based app enables users to make daily savings by taking spare change from their online transactions and automatically investing it in digital gold. The investments in digital gold are backed by physical gold of the same amount, and investors can choose to withdraw that much gold or liquidate it at any time.
Currently, the year-old app claims to have a registered user base of over 4.7 million, and processes over 100 transactions per minute on the platform.
Jar competes directly with apps such as Gold lacquer and Spenny, in addition to other savings and investment apps, such as e.g Appreciatewhich operate in the reserve exchange model, but invest in mutual funds.
Jar seems to follow the business model of international startups such as e.g Acorns, Stash, and Klink. These apps work on the reserve change model and then recommend an investment plan for users based on goals, employment and income. Acorns offers five diversified portfolios of ETFs and is now moving towards crypto.
Build a tranche for new offers
In May 2022, Jar was reportedly in talks to close a new round of funding (Series B) valued at $50 million, led by the existing investor Tiger Global, along with the participation of Rocketship, Third Prime and Stonks.
Entracker was first out with the information.
The new funding round would come just a few months after the startup raised $32 million in a Series A round led by Tiger, in February 2022. Rocketship.vc, Third Prime, Stonks, Force Ventures, Arkam Ventures and WEH also participated in the round . The Series A round followed a seed funding of $4.5 million in August 2021.
Answer to YourStory’s Jar’s co-founder Nischay said it’s too early to comment, but he confirmed the company’s attempts at other investment tools in the near future.
