Startup Market Pulse said on Tuesday that it has raised $1.2 million in pre-seed funding at an $18.6 million post-money valuation from high net-worth individuals, including Nitish Mittersain, founder & MD, Nazara Technologies; Apurva Parekh, director at Pidilite Industries; and existing investors including Aditya Goel, director at Epacific Services India.
Market Pulse will use the funds for its stock broking business. It has successfully completed the beta phase for its trading platform and will have a public launch in the fourth week of August, it said in a statement.
The company has built and continues to operate its data and analysis arm at a 300% profit margin and zero marketing. Its flagship charting product is the highest-rated stock market app on the play store, which has garnered over 3 million downloads and sees 600K MAU and 260K DAU, with an engagement time of 55 minutes per user per day.
Market Pulse raised a total of $1 million for its data and analysis business from Kishore Ganji, angel investor and mentor at Astir Ventures; Rashmi Kwatra, founder and CIO at Sixteenth Street Capital; and Umasankar Nistala, CIO-Payments at Fiserv, among others.
“It’s been fascinating to see Amit (Dhakad) and Hiral (Jain) break into a tight space and create a profitable business out of literally nothing. I am excited to continue partnering with them in their new direction and foray into stock broking,” said Aditya Goel, board member and lead investor.
The new direction of stock broking was a natural, inevitable evolution for the company, as it aims to create a bigger impact with the meaningful disruption that moves the trader community forward, Market Pulse said.
Market Pulse CEO Amit Dhakad said, “90% trading for the top 3 brokers happens through their mobile apps. But, these apps are only serving as execution channels and missing the real possibilities and significant progress that technology can drive for the trader community. It’s time to think differently and look deeply at the trader’s journey, expectations and needs.”
Commenting on future plans, Dhakad said, “We will be raising our first institutional round to fuel the development of this disruptive technology and lead the evolution of our industry.”