Caesar Sengupta, former vice president and general manager of payments and Next Billion Users initiative at Google, has raised $90 million for his fintech start-up Arta Finance which aims to open up advanced financial opportunities, the kind that family offices offer to the ultra-rich, to the masses.
Besides venture capital giants Sequoia Capital India, Ribbit, and Coatue, 140 angel investors including well-known technologists and finance professionals such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; FinTech V Chairman Betsy Cohen; Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach; and Jeff Dean, SVP, Google Research and Health have participated in the round.
Like family offices that help the ultra-wealthy craft their visions of the future, Arta will break down barriers to sophisticated finance with technology to help people aggregate all their assets, build a personal collection of investments and access expert services to shape their financial future, the company wrote in a blog post.
“We got rid of the admin overheads, salesy calls, clunky UIs, and eye-watering fees. And we’ve harnessed AI to enable intelligent investing in public markets and opened access to alternative assets such as private equity, venture capital, and real estate funds. And we plug you into our ecosystem of financial and lifestyle professionals who can help you protect and enjoy your wealth,” the blog post read.
The company will help its customers invest in asset classes such as private equity, venture capital, private debt, and real estate funds. Users can start with $10,000 for certain funds and choose to pay based on performance. Arta’s proprietary AI-Managed Portfolios (AMPs) will enable members to create personalized, automated portfolios using stocks, bonds, options, and leverage. It also offers verified and private spaces where members can discover new financial opportunities, benchmark themselves and learn from what their peers are doing.
The service is currently open to accredited investors in the US and the company said it will expand to other countries after obtaining the necessary approvals.
