RMB advises Centricity WealthTech on US$20m fund raise

The requirement

Centricity Wealth Tech Private Limited (”Centricity”) is India’s leading B2B2C digital private wealth management company catering to high net worth individuals (HNIs) as well as retail investors. It provides a plug-and-play financial services platform for independent financial advisors. Centricity’s business model revolves around two channels – (i) the business to consumer (B2C) arm, branded as Invictus, which caters to ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNIs) with portfolios above Rs 100 crore ($12 million), (ii) the business to business to consumer (B2B2C) arm, branded One Digital, which empowers financial intermediaries in tier 2, 3, and 4 cities to serve their clients using Centricity’s tech platform.

The company's scale has been bigger and faster than any wealth management company in India within 15 months of starting the operations. By mid-2024, Centricity had over 4,500 financial distributors on its platform and 92 UHNI families, while managing assets worth c.US$500m.

Centricity was looking to raise a large equity cheque to take the next step in its growth strategy.

RMB advisory

RMB’s India Corporate Finance team, acting through RMB Capital India Private Limited, was chosen as the financial advisor to Centricity for its capital raise transaction.

The RMB team played a pivotal role in executing the transaction in a relatively tough environment given the funding winter for startups / new age business models. They were able to create strong interest from multiple investors. In the process, the RMB team delivered on the client’s requirement of a single large investor and a consortium of family offices, which strategically added a lot of goodwill and branding for the business.

Lightspeed India Partners (“Lightspeed”) led the US$20m round in Centricity with participation from Korean VC firm Paramark, as well as a group of prominent family offices in India, including MS Dhoni, NB Ventures, Vishal Dhupar (Nvidia), MMG Group and Action Tesa family office, along with angel investors Aakash Chaudhry (formerly Aakash Institute) and Ritesh Agarwal (OYO).

Lightspeed is a multi-stage global venture capital firm focusing on early stage as well as growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage US$28bn in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the USA, Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia.

The way ahead

Centricity plans to expand its distribution network to 120 cities over the next 12 to 18 months, up from 27 today and also use the funds to hire 40-50 private bankers, who will exclusively manage UHNI clients while doubling the strength of its tech team from 75 to over 150 specialists who will focus on innovations such as generative AI-led modules, insurtech and broking-tech platforms.

“We wanted to go deep into India that is why we are catering to the segment of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNIs) that have around 70% of India’s wealth. We are also catering to the huge Indian market through a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) framework purely because no company in India has successfully built a distribution network. Our idea is to build India’s largest financial distribution company serving almost everyone possible,” said Manu Awasthy, Centricity Co-founder and CEO.