Former Google exec, Caesar Sengupta has been pivotal actor in lots of category defining projects for over 15 years. Sengupta was product lead at Google for ChromeOS (Google’s desktop operating system), he also headed Next Billion Users which produced Google Pay in India. Sengupta alongside some of his colleagues left Google in 2021 to begin a new venture.
Sengupta’s new venture Arta Finance is a platform dedicated to granting customers access to alternative assets which were hitherto restricted to the super wealthy individuals. Through Arta Sengupta is creating a digital family office to serve the world. Describing the venture Sengupta explained: “this is a highly regulated space, so we have to take very measured and cautious steps and we are also building it in a by-the-book manner.”
The founder has also revealed that hisbolatform has secured more than $90 million including a Series A funding round with such investors as Sequoia Capital India, Coatue, Ribbit Capital, and over 140 individuals including Betsy Cohen, Ram Shriram and especially Eric Schmidt.
Arta Finace according to Sengupta is a product of the common shared experiences with his colleagues and himself. “We realized that once you get to the $10 million to $15 million range, you can get the private bank to engage with you, and they will help you. But for the vast majority of us, who have some money and are making money, our options are very limited,” he said.
The unattractive idea of tech people using a financial planner and the lack of ample time to personally focus on financial planning has created the need to address the big data problem that can resolve the situation. This is what Arta Finance attempts to apply machine learning to address.
Arta provides investment opportunities through alternative assets such qa venture capital, real estate, private equity, and private debt. The platform also allows customers invest from as low as $10,000 to access funds from top-10 fund managers known for consistent high returns.
Customers can also use lines of credit without selling their stocks. This eliminates the need to liquidate while trying to get liquidity. Every member is enabled to operate “highly personalized” portfolios with stocks, bonds, options and leverage. This is a shift from what is obtainable with banks where banks and fund managers pool every customer’s money and hesitate about changing customer’s portfolio selection.
Some of the selling points advertised by Arta is that it will accrue interest from its performance and will be open about its pricing. What the startup is addressing is a huge unresolved problem plaguing the global fintech space. The company’s team are already accomplished individuals who have spearheaded several advanced product used by internet users.
Arta has already gone live with accredited investors in the U.S, and intends to launch an expansion to markets in Singapore and India in due time.
As originally reported in (https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/02/eric-schmidt-backs-former-google-execs-digital-family-office-platform-in-90-million-funding/)
