Stable Money in talks to raise $20 million from Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership, others

Startup funding

Stable Money, a platform offering fixed deposits and bonds investment opportunities, is set to raise $20-25 million (around Rs 166-207 crore) in fresh funding, with Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum Partnership  joining as a new investor, sources told Moneycontrol.

The funding round is expected to value Stable Money at around $125-130 million, nearly 2.5 times its valuation from the last fundraise in July 2024.

“The proposition of bonds as an investment for retail investors is hot right now, and private equity investors are taking a long-term view on this segment. Wealth as an overall category is seeing significant inbound interest,” a source close to the deal said.

The round is still in progress but sources indicate that Fundamentum Partnership, the venture capital firm run by Nilekani, is likely to invest around $10 million. The remaining capital will come from existing investors including Z47 (previously Matrix Partners India) and Lightspeed. The final composition of the investment round is yet to be determined.

Queries sent to the Stable Money team remain unanswered.

Stable Money’s fresh capital raise comes less than 10 months after its $15 million Series A round in July 2024, which was led by RTP Global and Z47. Other investors included Lightspeed, Titan Capital and several existing backers. The company was then valued at approximately $55 million, according to startup data platform TheKredible.

It also raised $5 million in its seed funding round in August 2023. The company is backed by prominent angel investors, including Swiggy co-founder and CEO Harsha Majety, Estee Advisors chairman and MD Sandeep Tyagi, and Tracxn co-founder Abhishek Goyal.

Horizontal expansion 

Founded by former Navi Mutual Fund CEO Saurabh Jain and Harish Jain in 2022, Stable Money started with fixed deposits (FDs) and added bonds after securing its Online Bond Platform Provider (OBPP) licence from BSE in February 2024. It claims to have a registered user base of over 20 lakh.

The company is now looking to expand beyond fixed-income products.

Sources indicate that Stable Money is planning to introduce new credit-based offerings, including credit cards, as part of its diversification strategy. “They are looking at gold and credit cards as their new offerings and have been working on them for a couple of months,” the source cited earlier said.

Bond markets are back in the eye of the storm

Bonds, once reserved for institutions, are now attracting retail investors amid equity market volatility. Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPPs) have simplified access, allowing investors to screen bonds yielding 8-13 percent based on risk appetite, with added liquidity options.

Regulatory changes have further eased entry. The Securities and Exchange Board of India slashed the minimum investment for privately placed bonds from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 lakh in 2022, then to Rs 10,000 in 2024.

The RBI’s Retail Direct Scheme, launched in 2021, enabled direct retail participation in government securities. As of January 2025, over two lakh accounts hold Rs 2,200 crore in G-secs.

Stable Money operates in a rapidly evolving space where multiple platforms are offering similar opportunities. Other players such as Grip Invest provide access to government and corporate bonds as well as securitised debt instruments and is backed by Venture Highway, Anicut Capital, and AvantEdge.

Explained: Why SEBI cracked down on three unregulated bond platforms; what it means for other players

Wint Wealth, supported by Eight Roads Ventures, 3one4 Capital and Blume Ventures among others, also facilitates NBFC bond investments. Platforms like IndiaBonds and Yubi further cater to the growing demand for debt instruments.

Firms like Incred Money, Flipkart’s Super Money, Airtel Finance, and Mobikwik have incorporated fixed deposits as part of their offerings, reflecting the broader push toward wealthtech solutions.