StockGro, a social investment platform, has secured $32 million in a round headed by Bitkraft Ventures, General Catalyst, and Lightricks co-founder Itai Tsiddon.

The investment was also supported by existing investors such as Roots Ventures and Creed Capital Asia. The financing is a mix of primary and secondary fundraising, with early donors reaping significant rewards, according to the company. This round was also supported by a group of angel investors that included the Base 10 Capital founders, Junglee Games founder Ankush Gera, and Nazara founder Nitish Mittersain.

StockGro plans to utilise the funds to launch new products and aggressively ramp up recruiting across the board, according to a statement.

The startup raised $5 million in a pre-Series A funding round headed by Roots Ventures and Velo Partners in August of last year. StockGro raised roughly $1 million in an angel round from a group of investors in December 2020.

StockGro is an interactive virtual interface that allows people to learn about and engage in financial markets. It was founded in January 2020 by former venture capitalist Ajay Lakhotia. As of January 2022, StockGro had increased its user base to ten million.

The company is the first social investment platform in the region with a gamified virtual interface that allows users to explore trading methods, compete, and socialise.

Its social groups are currently led by top fund managers, futures and options traders, and algo traders, who help users learn different trading tactics and test their theories on the StockGro platform.

"Now that we've laid a solid basis," Lakhotia, who is also the company's CEO, said, "our goal is to develop a disciplined trading culture in India and assist the digital youth of today trade in an informed and learned manner."

Finance and investing democratisation is a major global trend that is reshaping the culture and attitudes of younger generations. According to Bitkraft Ventures, fewer than 2% of India's population now invests in the stock market.

“Gamification and competitions not only engage new and aspiring investors, but also drive superior educational outcomes with a play and learn product.

StockGro has a unique opportunity to facilitate the transition of wealth into new asset classes, not just with stocks but also with its expansion into crypto and other assets,” it added.

StockGro empowers investors through a fun and interactive product, General Catalysts stated in a statement. “We are looking forward to seeing team StockGro scale their user base with the funds from this round in order to achieve their compelling vision,” it added.