Upstox
“Can a discount stockbroker become India's everyday wealth platform — bundling broking, lending, insurance and savings before Zerodha and Groww do?”
Founded2009
HQMumbai, Maharashtra, India
FoundersRavi Kumar, Shrini Viswanath, Kavitha Subramanian
IndustryFintech / Investment
The story
Upstox started as discount broker RKSV in 2009, pioneering unlimited / flat-fee trading plans in India. With Ratan Tata and Tiger Global backing, it scaled into one of India's largest retail brokerages alongside Zerodha and Groww. Since 2023-2024 it has been pivoting from pure broking into a 'wealth platform' — adding insurance distribution (2024), personal loans via NBFC partners (2025), fixed deposits, NCDs, NPS, and P2P lending — to broaden its revenue base beyond brokerage and increase customer retention.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2009
Founded as RKSV by Ravi Kumar, Shrini Viswanath and Kavitha Subramanian· founding
2010
Received license to begin trading business in India under Upstox Securities Pvt. Ltd.· licensing
2012
Entered retail trading space; first to launch unlimited trading plans· pivot
2021
Recorded highest number of Demat accounts opened in a single month by CDSL (October 2021)· growth
2024
Launched insurance distribution business, beginning with HDFC Life term insurance· insurance
2025
Launched personal loan product (Upstox Loan app) with NBFC partners· lending
Regulated entities
3
regulatory licences held by Upstox
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Upstox’s embedded-finance stack
Lending
Upstox Personal Loan (up to ₹5 lakh, ROI from 13.99%)Margin Trading Facility (up to 4x leverage)P2P Lending
Accounting gap: none