Dhan Bets Beyond Brokerage

Having assembled a capital markets stack, spanning APIs, AI-led tools, content, education and algorithmic investing, over the past five years, Raise Financial Services, the parent entity of investment tech platform Dhan, no longer wants to limit itself to stock trading. 

The idea is straightforward: if retail investors are becoming increasingly experimental and data-driven, then the platform should evolve from a transaction layer to a decision layer.

But this move is not random. Late last year, the startup raised $120 Mn in its Series B funding round from Hornbill Capital, MUFG, BEENEXT and others, catapulting its valuation to $1.2 Bn and allowing its entry into the country’s coveted unicorn club. 

The inflow of funds gave it room to expand beyond brokerage, as evidenced by its recent acquisition of the algo-trading platform Stratzy, which adds depth to its product stack. 

Clearly, the ambition is to build a financial operating system for the next generation of Indian investors. But there is an inherent tension at the heart of Raise’s next chapter — challenges will grow in tandem with its stack. 

Going ahead, Dhan will have to bundle its stack in a way that remains intuitive, cohesive, and easy to trust. So, can it turn breadth into its strength or crumble at scale? Let’s try to answer this in this edition of The Outline.

A Push Beyond Brokerage

Raise’s $120 Mn Series B round last year effectively underwrote its transition from a brokerage to a broader fintech platform. The idea behind the raise was simple: India’s retail investor base is growing, and users now want more than just basic trading. 

Indian investors today are experimenting with APIs and increasingly seeking data-driven decisions. Dhan was built to capture this cohort many years ago. Its early differentiation lay in speed and product design.

In 2022, the company made a conscious decision to launch an API-first trading platform, DhanHQ, which has now emerged as a preferred infrastructure layer for serious traders.

Even in terms of user base, Dhan’s trajectory reflects a focused rather than mass market approach. As of last year, it had around 10.3 Lakh active users, compared to Groww’s 1.29 Cr and Zerodha’s 68.9 Lakh users. 

The platform’s revenue from operations rose 136% YoY to ₹877 Cr in FY25, while profit zoomed 159% YoY to ₹408 Cr, as per the company’s regulatory filings. These numbers are a far cry from what Groww and Zerodha reported during the year. While Groww posted a revenue of ₹3,902 Cr in FY25, Zerodha raked in a top line of ₹8,847 Cr.      

Despite a wide revenue chasm, Raise’s revenue uptick shows that its core brokerage business is scaling and giving it the financial cushion to back its expanding product ambitions. 

The company also launched a learning platform for trading and investing, Upsurge, in 2022 to educate users. In early 2025, it acquired the new-age media brand, Filter Coffee, to capture attention and engagement. 

In August 2025, the startup launched Fuzz Ai, an AI-powered financial research assistant, and followed it up with the launch of its in-house small language model (SLM), Artham, to interpret market signals. Besides, the startup also launched DEXT T3, a trading terminal for its users. 

Each of these new offerings was built on top of Dhan to plug insights, education and distribution gaps in the investing journey of its retail users. 

This simply proves that Raise is not content with being just a transaction layer. It rather wants to own the entire investor lifecycle — from discovery to execution to optimisation.

Stratzy & The Algo Advantage

Earlier this week, Raise announced the acquisition of algorithmic investing and trading platform Stratzy in a cash-and-stock deal, marking the most consequential shift in Raise’s trajectory so far. This is because Stratzy brings over 100 exchange-approved algorithmic strategies across equities, F&O, indices, and commodities, effectively adding a systematic investing layer to Raises’ ecosystem.

The move is also well-timed. Algorithmic trading frameworks in India are becoming more defined, and their adoption among retail investors is only going to rise. Raise, with this acquisition, is trying to be the frontrunner in this shift.

In a nutshell, Dhan provides execution, DhanHQ enables advanced users to build strategies, and Strazy offers pre-built strategies. Together, the ecosystem of services offers everything from DIY trading to managed systematic investing.

But nuances matter.

As part of the acquisition deal, Stratzy will continue to operate independently and integrate across multiple broker platforms, not just Dhan. This indicates that Raise is prioritising scale over exclusivity and risks diluting the defensibility of its ecosystem. 

Raise’s Integration Playbook

At a structural level, Raise’s playbook spans four key layers — infrastructure (Dhan, DhanHQ), AI-powered intelligence (Fuzz AI, Artham), engagement (Upsurge, Filter Coffee), and strategies (Stratzy). Taken together, these pieces point to a push towards a tightly integrated ecosystem where users can learn, analyse, execute, and automate within a single platform, rather than switching between multiple tools. 

If executed well, it will help Raise increase user stickiness, expand monetisation beyond brokerage, and position the company as more than just a trading app. It also aligns with global trends where financial platforms are evolving into integrated ecosystems. One such example is Nasdaq-listed Robinhood. 

However, there remain execution challenges. Product coherence remains an open question. Each layer — APIs, AI, content and algos — has its own development cycle and user base. Integrating them into a seamless experience requires not just engineering alignment, but a strong product philosophy. Without this, the company may end up becoming a compendium of features rather than a unified system. 

Raise is also interested in acquiring a wealth tech startup, Infinyte Club. If the deal goes through, Raise would make its foray into the advisory and portfolio management segment. While this widens the window of opportunity for the company, it also exposes it to competition and regulatory burden. 

All said and done, the company is creating a moat by combining trading, intelligence, and automation. It has capital, momentum, and a rapidly expanding stack. The real test for now is to escape the risk of being weighed down by the very complexity expansion.

Edited By Shishir Parasher
Creatives By Abhyam Gusai

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