Borderless (erstwhile known as Stockal), one of India’s pioneering cross-border investing platforms, is transforming itself into a new avatar to capitalise on a US$25 billion a year market opportunity that arises from serving the global aspirations of the wealthy across emerging markets.
Borderless is launching multi-currency banking and payments products. The venture announced that it has received $2.33 million (INR 20 crores) in bridge funding from new and existing investors to lay the foundation for this ambitious thrust. The round was led by an investor syndicate comprising Equirus Credence Family Office, with participation from July Ventures and others.
Mitesh Shah, MD & CEO, Equirus Credence Family Office, said, “We’ve tracked Borderless for the last 4-5 years and have been closely involved as partners. Their evolution from an cross-border investing platform to a more holistic financial player is something that we have been very excited about. Their new products are category-defining and their early successes in markets like Africa and Middle East are super encouraging. Very happy to be an enabler in their growth as they scale over the next 5 years.
According to Sitashwa Srivastava, Founder & CEO, Borderless, “The more we engaged our affluent customers in emerging markets, the more we realized that their global aspirations extended beyond cross-border investing and included travel, education & healthcare, etc. The opportunity to help them save, invest and pay for a more fundamentally global lifestyle is worth about US$25 billion a year emerging markets globally. Last few months we invested heavily in building a platform that will allow them to “save” as well as “invest” including getting the regulatory part right. Am truly excited about the next phase of our journey as Borderless, a name which truly aligns and connotes what we intend to offer and the aspirations of those whom we address.”
Commenting on their participation in the bridge round, Ravi Krishnappa, Partner, July Ventures, said, “Sitashwa and the team at Borderless have stayed sharply focused on execution and built a solid foundation, with an inbuilt moat driven by product depth and customer engagement. Their pivot to a broader platform taps into the growing demand from affluent consumers in emerging markets looking to engage globally. It opens up meaningful revenue opportunities and positions them for scalable, profitable growth. We’re glad to continue backing them as they scale.”
“The new expanded platform is not good just from the perspective of end customers but even for players in the wealth management, investing and the overall fintech ecosystem who now can add more value to their customers by leveraging the Borderless platform. For us it means wider universe of partners to tap into making it a win-win. We thank our existing investors for their continued faith in me and the team. Look forward to together building a large, globally scaled venture in this space out of India,” Sitashwa further added.
