Journey of Finology from a YouTube channel to a SEBI registered investment advisory

Being one of the most popular and leading names of the finance industry, Finology Ventures Pvt. Ltd, founded in June 2017, is dedicated to imparting financial education, through a variety of virtual fintech products, which were created to encourage healthy and informed investment practices among Indian citizens.

Journey of Finology from a YouTube channel to a SEBI registered investment advisory

Pranjal Kamra, Founder and CEO of the Raipur-based financial education and investment platform, aims to be a one-point solution for investors by facilitating education, advisory, and transactions.

 

The man behind the vision

Pranjal Kamra is an alumnus of the National Institute of Securities Market and holds a degree in law from HNLU. He possesses sharp acumen and skills in investing, which have helped him earn a good name for himself at the age of just 26 years.

Along with working as a CEO at Finology, he also runs a YouTube channel through which he continuously works towards empowering investors by disseminating financial education. His channel has over a million subscribers.

 

The idea behind starting Finology

Media reports suggest the penetration of the Indian equity market until last year was just about 2.5 percent of the population, against the global average of 40 percent. Two main factors are responsible for this: lack of overall awareness among people, and prevalent mis-spelling.

After identifying the problem and searching for relevant solutions, a brainstorming session gave birth to the idea of Finology. Bootstrapped startup Finology began life as a YouTube channel with almost no traction and went on to become a budding fintech brand.

“Starting Finology was more of an emotional decision to do my bit towards helping society by disseminating financial awareness. My years at NISM were eye-opening and I realised the widespread mis-selling of financial services, most notably in the investment advisory space,” Pranjal said.

 

Functioning

Finology offers a complete solution with learning, advisory, and DIY research tools to its users. It engages directly with clients or customers and charges for its products and services.

It provides four different products and services to its customers- Finbox, Ideabag, Masterplan, and Super Funds. Finbox features customised stock recommendations, personalised mutual funds, life, and health insurance, among others. Ideal bag is a tailored portfolio of stocks, while Masterplan serves as a personalised investment plan curated by experts. Super Funds is a crafted mutual fund portfolio. These services are charged based on the level of customisation and bouquet of services offered.

Finology offers BSE Institute-certified or general certification online courses on value investing, mutual funds, company law and practice, and income-tax filings.

Its recently introduced free stock research tool- Ticker works as an equity research assistant. The premium version, Ticker Plus, offers tailored features.

 

Success numbers

In the last financial year, Finology generated revenue worth ₹2.2 crores. Pranjal adds, “The nationwide coronavirus-led lockdown called for many online measures like conducting special lockdown classes through YouTube. Our active online presence generated great results as the company witnessed a 300 percent jump in revenue.”

Finology launched its Ticker product during the lockdown and had 50 lakh visits in the first month itself.

Currently, the educational platform on YouTube has more than 17.5 lakh subscribers and the number of registered users on the platform stands at 2.5 lakh, along with 20,000 premium or paying customers.

Finology is the first and only SEBI registered Investment Advisory of Chhattisgarh. The sense of togetherness that prevails in the team has enabled Finology to maintain a low attrition rate throughout the past 4 years of its operations.