Rising Star: Devansh Mehta of OpiGo wants to make investing in stocks less stressful

The young founder of the tech platform is keen on expanding its user base and making it foolproof for all age groups

When Devansh Mehta first thought of the idea of building a tech platform for people looking for a simplified way to invest in the stock market, he knew he had to find a solution to the informal manner in which these investments were discussed. As a Gujarati, Mehta would often find conversations at social events filter around the stock market. “It was quite fascinating to see how people would decide their stock investments based on these informal chats,” he says.

The 27-year-old founder and CEO of OpiGo, who is also a chartered accountant by profession, spent several years working for a leading wealth management firm, ASK Asset and Wealth Management, in the family office group, handling an AUM—or Assets Under Management—of around ₹2,800 crore. “Very often, my clients, across age groups, would tell me to set aside a certain amount of money that they could then invest in stocks,” shares Mehta.

"I knew that there was an opportunity here, to create a one-stop decision-making platform. While many community platforms existed, they mostly functioned as feeds on X (previously Twitter). With OpiGo, I wanted to create something for those who wanted to initiate the process of investing in stocks but didn’t know how to.”

Mehta decided to quit his lucrative job and focus on building OpiGo, along with his brother Aman Mehta. The duo bootstrapped the company, launching operations in 2023, functioning as a social trading platform that helps users make more informed decisions about investing in stocks. 

The company raised about ₹ 1.4 crore in a pre-seed round from investors such as Shubham Satyarth, founder of investment platforms such as Finpeg and Sharpely, as well as Manish Choksi, Vice Chairman of Asian Paints. OpiGo has racked up about 7,500 users so far. The next phase involves monetising the platform and taking it to markets beyond India. Edited excerpts from the conversation with Devansh Mehta: 

What was the motivating factor behind launching OpiGo?

While community platforms for investing and stock markets have existed in some form or the other, there really isn’t anything that offers performance metrics across different parameters. With OpiGo, we wanted to create something for the lazy investors, who want to make money in stocks but just don’t know where to start. The rate of fintech adoption in India is quite high, 84 per cent or so, and the risk appetite for investments is relatively high as well.  

So, we’ve created a gamified community of sorts, where anyone can share stock ideas and tips in the form of cards. These are real-time links, which capture details like live prices. You can track friends and even SEBI-registered experts on their tips and how those stocks are faring. We have features like scores for each user, adding a layer of reliability. We even have a feature called polls, so if you have a query about a particular stock, you will get responses from the community, giving you an idea of how that stock is faring. 

Can you describe the business model and how you’re monetising the platform? 

We’ve tried to cover several verticals from self-research to community, subscriptions and now paid advisory as well. That’s where we will be monetising the platform. We’re going to be launching a new service called “decks”. It is a paid service where we’re aggregating and partnering with SEBI research analysts for stock recommendations. It is almost like spoon-feeding the investor—where they can subscribe to a particular category of stocks, and keep getting stock tips. We also collate data on in-depth stock research which is then sold to fintech companies. That’s the B2B part of our business.  

Do you think younger millennials and Gen-Z lack awareness about investing in stocks? How is OpiGo bridging the gap here? 

From what I’ve observed when it comes to educational tools, there are enough and more resources available online. Despite that, if people are saying they lack the knowledge, then it’s really the motivation to go and invest, which is missing. Most people want an easier way of accessing information, and we were very clear from the onset that we didn’t want to provide educational tools. The idea is to reduce the number of clicks as much as possible when it comes to making an informed decision.

Isn’t there a flipside to a service of this kind, where misleading information can be shared on a social trading platform?

Like any industry, yes, there is a flipside to this as well. If I’m bullish about a particular stock and that turns out to be wrong, it can seem misleading. That’s why you will find people on social platforms mention that their suggestion is for educational purposes only; it’s one of the reasons we have come up with the paid advisory service as well, especially since we’ve tied up with SEBI-registered experts.   

How was the fundraising process for you? 

It was definitely challenging. Aman [Mehta] and I have never gone out and raised funds, so it was quite a learning for us. From making pitch decks to sending cold emails, as well as dealing with rejections, feedback and advice in equal measure. We had a few investors who showed some strong interest in supporting us—Shubham Satyarth and Manish Choksi are a couple of them. They really understand how the market works and the problems that a lot of investors face. Despite funding in the fintech space seeing a slowdown, we saw a good response, and we’re looking to raise another round soon.

Who is your competition? What differentiates OpiGo from other players?

In terms of the community feature that we offer, Stockwits—a New York-based company that has forayed into India—is an interesting player. Trinkerr is a virtual trading platform, while you also have StockGro and companies such as Univest. Ultimately, we’re working as super aggregators and we have certain features like scoring and polls that differentiate us. 

How do you see the platform evolving? What’s next? 

The goal, going forward, is to tap other markets eventually. The United States is a big one for us and we’re hoping to scale up.  Over the next six months, we are looking to have 75,000 users, and we are hiring more team members. With our B2B business, we’re hoping to bring about 25 new clients on board.

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