How fast can a startup scale up? Ask Nikhil Aggarwal, the founder & CEO of Grip Invest, a leading multi-asset alternative investment platform that has become the perfect platform for investors looking for non-market linked investment options and startups looking for growth capital. In just 2 years since inception, Grip has ₹2.5 lakh registered users, and has garnered ₹500+ crore worth of investments till date in a variety of instruments, including asset leasing and corporate bonds, deployed across 125+ companies seeking alternate capital resources. Acting as a flywheel within the startup ecosystem, Grip adds momentum to broad-based wealth creation, by serving up new growth opportunities to investors and startups alike.
At first glance, it might seem like a precarious web of interlocking liabilities. But a closer look at how Grip has marshalled its resources, and drawn strength from key partnerships, reveals a canny business strategy built on solid foundations.
As Nikhil Aggarwal explains, “We have built trust as that is currency unto itself when it comes to investments. This is a perpetual challenge to solve as we need to constantly over perform and give investors transparency”. Having founded the company at the height of the pandemic, the management team at Grip Investment has learned to err on the side of caution, which is borne out by the stringent due diligence they apply to the evaluation of new investment opportunities. This has allowed them to maintain a 0% default rate so far.
There were other big advantages. “We needed to have the right banking infrastructure to drive our platform forward along with strong technological infrastructure to offer a seamless transaction experience to our users. IDFC FIRST Bank is one of the partners who have helped us on this front and brought agility and pace to our system”, Nikhil Aggarwal says, describing the immense back-end support they received as part of IDFC FIRST Bank’s dedicated FIRST WINGS program for startups.
A point of distinction for the new breed of startups is their insatiable need for growth and improvement. And Grip Invest is no different. “The knowledge of having a sound financial partner who has always supported us gives us flexibility and the confidence to experiment with our products”, Nikhil Aggarwal says, when asked how being part of the FIRST WINGS program impacts his company’s long term plans. By embedding processes and networks that offer investment opportunities across the risk-reward spectrum to investors, and a reliable source of capital to startups, Grip has managed to plug a crucial gap in the capital market, leaving it on the cusp of exponential growth.
Grip’s instrumental role in facilitating capital investment and startup growth via gripinvest.in platform makes it a crucial business, which resonates with IDFC FIRST Bank’s avowed mission to provide cutting-edge banking and financial support to startups. As the company gradually ascends to unicorn status, in partnership with FIRST WINGS, it will be a victory not only of Nikhil Aggarwal’s vision, but also for the dreams and aspirations that rest on the Indian startup ecosystem.
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Moneycontrol journalists were not involved in the creation of this article.
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