On August 18, the American e-commerce major made its first investment in India’s wealth management sector when it participated in a $40 million funding round of six-year-old startup Smallcase. Amazon’s backing comes out of the $250 million corpus it announced as part of its Smbhav Venture Fund for Indian small and medium enterprises last year.
Amazon is far from the only high-profile investor in Smallcase. The company – which offers intelligently weighted baskets of shares and exchange-traded funds to reflect a theme, strategy, or objective – has over the years attracted several impressive investors ranging from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Blume Ventures to chipset provider DSP Group and financial institution HDFC Bank, among others.
“By increasing product selection and convenience, this will provide an additional channel for consumers to participate in the equity markets,” a spokesperson for Amazon said.
