Startup-Circle: How Deciml is simplifying investments for young investors

Deciml is a micro-investing and micro-savings app that enables young Indians to auto-invest their spare change from online transactions into Mutual Funds or Fixed Return Funds. A Pune-based fintech firm, the company was founded in 2020 by CFA Level 2 and experienced entrepreneur Satyajeet Kunjeer with an aim to make investing effortless, set more young Indians onto the path of goal-oriented savings, and make their initiation into the investment ecosystem as simple as possible.

Within three months of its introduction on the Android PlayStore, Deciml received 25,000+ downloads with a total of ₹20,00,000+ being invested through round-ups, as well as daily investments. This is currently available on the Android PlayStore, Deciml is slated to launch on iOS soon, making it the first true micro-investing platform available to Apple users.

Speaking to CIOL, Satyajeet Kunjeer, Founder, Deciml has shared his views on the growing significance of the micro-investing and micro-savings app. He talked about his startup journey and also, and he speaks about the growth plans he has for Deciml.

Tell us about Deciml and its offerings. Tell us about the team.

Deciml is a micro-investing and micro-savings mobile app that automatically invests your spare change of as little as ₹1, from all your online transactions into Mutual Funds and Fixed Return Funds. It is a product that is targeted towards young Indians and enables them to inch closer to financial freedom without having to compromise on their lifestyle in any way.

With what mission and objectives was the company set up?

A youth who has recently started earning a salary or stipend would want to invest a small amount, say ₹80-100 every day, rather than investing ₹3,000 in one go, simply because it pinches less.

Also, due to the overload of information, data, charts, reports, etc., investing can be intimidating for someone who is new to this world.

Deciml was started with the aim to solve this very problem. It makes investing a more effortless and accessible experience for young Indians, enabling the initiation of a larger demographic into the investment ecosystem.

What, as per you, are the five important things that fintech should be looking at today?

We currently have the largest youth population in the world that is transacting digitally and is very tech-savvy. I think we are primed for a FinTech revolution in the country. In the past few years, we have demonstrated great progress in that direction with the surge in the number of bank accounts being opened, an increase in the number of people investing in the capital market and not to mention, and the phenomenal growth of digital transactions in India and yet we have a huge untapped market ahead of us. I think fintech should really focus on delivering to the last mile through innovation.

What will be the strategy for expansion and growth in the coming years?

Having built a robust product, going forward we want to onboard more users onto the platform. We will be accomplishing this by phasing in digital ad campaigns on social media platforms and spreading awareness about this new concept of investing through content creators.

How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead? What changes for Deciml?

The last few years have seen tremendous growth in the number of people entering and investing in the capital market. The total penetration is still abysmally low but I think that is going to increase non-linearly in the coming years. Due to social media and some great content creators, financial awareness amongst the youth is at an all-time high. Deciml is an easy and convenient gateway to the world of investing for this highly intent demographic.

How has your revenue grown with the brand evolved during the pandemic?

During the pandemic the product was in the development and testing phase hence we didn’t experience any changes in revenue during that period. We launched the product recently after the pandemic was over and have started generating revenue.

What has changed for you since 2021? How are things now?

Since no one had created a micro-investing platform for Mutual Funds before, we faced many ecosystem challenges during the development of the product. Thankfully, most of the things have been resolved now and we have been able to deliver the product in the way we envisioned it.

What are your growth priorities for 2022?

The number one growth priority for 2022 is onboarding more users onto the platform. We also aim to roll out the ios version of the App soon.

Talk about the funding received so far and if/when you plan for your next fundraiser.

We started as a bootstrapped company, and today Deciml is backed by a clutch of strategic investors that includes VCs, entrepreneurs, and creators. We raised $1 Million in a pre-seed round from investors that include VC firms like Unnati Labs and MyAsia VC; entrepreneurs like Co-Founder & CEO of Unacademy, Gaurav Munjal, Founder of Innov8 (acquired by OYO), Dr. Ritesh Malik, CTO of Dunzo, Mukund Jha, and Co-founder of the Bombay Shaving Company, Raunak Munot, as well as influencers/creators like Ranveer Allahbadia, Bhuvan Bam, Raj Shamani, Suhani Shah, Prafull Billore and Varun Thakur.

This round gives us a runway of 12-15 months and we will raise our next round after this.