ET Money is a mutual fund and digital investment platform based in India, formerly owned by Times Internet, that serves retail investors.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what ET Money does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

ET Money in Brief

• What it is: ET Money is an Indian Mutual fund investing app company based in Gurugram.
• Who it serves: consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises.
• ET Money is a personal finance and investing app offering zero-commission direct mutual funds, SIPs, insurance, fixed deposits, NPS, gold, instant loans and credit score checks.
• It also offers a stock broking platform and ET Money Genius, a premium advisory membership launched in January 2022.
• Around the June 2024 deal it reported over 9 lakh transacting clients, including over 1 lakh revenue-generating users (company-stated).
• Funding: Not disclosed in public sources reviewed.

ET Money Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is ET Money?

ET Money operates in the Mutual fund investing app space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to ET Money.

• ET Money is a personal finance and investing app offering zero-commission direct mutual funds, SIPs, insurance, fixed deposits, NPS, gold, instant loans and credit score checks.
• It also offers a stock broking platform and ET Money Genius, a premium advisory membership launched in January 2022.
• Around the June 2024 deal it reported over 9 lakh transacting clients, including over 1 lakh revenue-generating users (company-stated).
• Platform tracks about Rs 70,000 crore of assets, with nearly Rs 28,000 crore invested on it, over Rs 25,000 crore in mutual funds; Genius had over 75,000 paying clients and Rs 1,200 crore of assets (reported).

The Origin Story of ET Money

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Mukesh Kalra, Santosh Navlani.
• Founded in 2015 (some accounts say 2014) by Mukesh Kalra and Santosh Navlani, who earlier built personal finance tool Moneysights, started in 2009.
• Times Internet acquired Moneysights in October 2014; the app launched as Smartspends, a spend-tracking tool.
• It was rebranded as ET Money in October 2016 when mutual fund transactions were added.
• Moneysights investors included Prasad Duvvuri, Blume Ventures and Naveen Tewari; ET Money itself was funded by Times Internet.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Mutual fund investing app sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• October 2014: Times Internet bought Moneysights.
• October 2016: Smartspends rebranded to ET Money with mutual fund transactions.
• 2018: over 4 million users reported.
• April 2021: Aadhaar-based SIP payments; January 2022: Genius membership launched.
• June 2024: 360 ONE WAM agreed to buy 100% for about Rs 366 crore (cash Rs 85.83 crore plus 35.9 lakh shares at Rs 779.3 each).
• January 2025: regulatory approval for change of control of the broking entity reported; other approvals pending at that point.

ET Money Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• No external funding rounds for ET Money itself in sources read; it was backed by Times Internet.
• Acquisition: June 2024, 360 ONE WAM acquires Banayantree Services and Moneygoals Solutions for about Rs 366 crore, part cash and part stock.

How Does ET Money Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Free direct mutual funds drive acquisition; monetisation from Genius subscriptions, advisory, and distribution of insurance, loans, FDs and other products (company-listed products; revenue split not disclosed).
• Banayantree Services operates digital distribution of financial products such as FDs, NPS, insurance, P2P lending and investment advisory.
• Partners include Reliance Mutual Fund, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Life and RBL Bank.

The Numbers: ET Money Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY24 turnover of the acquired entities: Rs 28.70 crore for Banayantree Services and Rs 2.04 crore for Moneygoals Solutions (reported).
• Profit or loss figures not found in sources read.

Market Opportunity for ET Money

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are the scale of UPI, rising digital lending, growing participation in investing and insurance, and the digitisation of small merchants. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• India's retail wealth platforms compete on free direct mutual funds and bundled advisory.
• The deal brought a digital retail platform into 360 ONE WAM's wealth management business.

Technology and Product at ET Money

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are uptime, security, fraud controls, integrations with banks and the speed of onboarding customers.

• Mobile-first personal finance app with spend tracking, portfolio analytics and automated investing.
• Aadhaar-based SIP payments and goal-based planning tools.

Team and Culture at ET Money

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Mukesh Kalra is CEO and Santosh Navlani is COO (per profile sources).
• Owned by 360 ONE WAM (formerly IIFL Wealth Management) after the deal.

ET Money Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for ET Money

• Integration into a wealth manager whose core clients differ from mass retail users.
• Free direct plans limit revenue; only 1 lakh of 9 lakh transacting clients were revenue-generating.
• Crowded market where larger platforms have scale advantages.
• Regulatory risk: rules from the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI or NPCI can change economics or business scope quickly.
• Concentration risk: dependence on a few partners, banks or payment rails can create single points of failure.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI.

ET Money Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• 360 ONE WAM entered wealthtech through the acquisition, aiming to reinforce its wealth position.
• Growth depends on converting free users to paying Genius and advisory customers.
• Key indicators: transaction value, take rate, active users, credit quality and cost of acquiring each customer.
• Funding position: Whether ET Money can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI.

Industry Context: Where ET Money Fits

India's financial technology sector has been shaped by public digital infrastructure, especially UPI, along with Aadhaar-based identity, the account aggregator framework and regulation from the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI. These rails let startups reach customers and merchants at very low cost, but also expose them to fast-changing rules on licensing, data and lending conduct.

As payments become a low-margin commodity, fintech companies increasingly compete on distribution, merchant services, credit, wealth and insurance products. Sustainable profit usually depends on compliance strength, cost control and the quality of customer relationships rather than transaction volume alone.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for ET Money

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for ET Money.

Bull case

• Digital payments and credit continue to grow, widening the market.
• Strong compliance and distribution create durable advantages.
• Cross-selling to existing customers can lift revenue per user.

Bear case

• Regulatory shifts can change economics overnight.
• Free or low-fee products make profit hard to reach.
• Fraud, outages and partner dependence can hurt trust.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from ET Money

Studying a company in the Mutual fund investing app space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about ET Money.

• Compliance is a growth enabler in financial services, not just a cost, because licences decide what a company is allowed to sell.
• Distribution and customer trust often matter more than the underlying payment or lending technology.
• Products that earn from services and credit tend to be steadier than ones that depend on free transactions.
• Dependence on a single bank partner or rail creates risk that should be managed early.
• Fraud prevention and uptime are core product features, not back-office tasks.

How to Evaluate ET Money as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can ET Money name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

ET Money is part of India’s growing Mutual fund investing app ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

ET Money FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is ET Money?

ET Money is a mutual fund and digital investment platform based in India, formerly owned by Times Internet, that serves retail investors. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded ET Money?

ET Money was founded by Mukesh Kalra, Santosh Navlani, and the company reports a founding year of 2015.

How much funding has ET Money raised?

No reliable total funding figure is disclosed in the public sources reviewed. Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does ET Money make money?

ET Money earns revenue from its Mutual fund investing app products and services sold to consumers, merchants, banks, lenders and enterprises. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of ET Money?

Reported rivals include Groww, Zerodha Coin, Kuvera, Scripbox. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for ET Money?

Main risks include rules from the rbi, sebi, irdai or npci can change economics or business scope quickly, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by the RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and NPCI. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.