Savart: Wealth Creation Is Not Difficult!

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Everyone yearns to make money and get rich. But, you simply cannot become wealthy with that increased paycheck. It all boils down to wealth management. Dave Ramsey rightly says, "money moves from those who do not manage it to those who do." Money management, however, is not so simple. It requires knowledge, observation, expertise, and patience.

Savart, a fintech startup by Sankarsh Chanda, is here to simplify investment management for you. Savart combines computing accuracy with the best of human intelligence. This ensures easy, safe, and profitable investments through its award winning research methods. StartupTalky interviewed Savart CEO Sankarsh Chanda, who started the company when he was just 18!

Savart - Company Highlights

Startup name	Savart
Headquarters	Hyderabad
Founder	Sankarsh Chanda
Sector	Investment Management
Founded	2017
Registered Entity Name	Svobodha Infinity Pvt.Ltd

About Savart
Savart - Industry Details
Savart - Founder And Team
Savart - The Idea And Launch
Savart - Name,Tagline, And Logo
Savart - Business Model And Revenue Model
Savart - Customer Acquisition
Savart - Funding
Savart - Challenges
Savart - Competitors
Savart - Achievements
Savart - Awards
Savart - Partners
Savart - Advisors And Mentors
Savart - Future Plans
Savart - FAQs

About Savart

Savart is a wealth management platform that simplifies investing in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds both online and offline. Savart combines machine accuracy and human intelligence to help its customers invest in stocks and mutual funds wisely. The company has a research team that does paper-based analysis, meets the management of listed entities, talks to dealers, suppliers, and customers to find out the strength of the entities/firms and take investment decisions accordingly.

Upon signing on its platform, Savart prompts the users to fill an EFG (Emotional Financial General) form. After the EFG analysis, Savart suggests suitable investment options for the user based on their needs and expectations. The user can also manually research and invest in instruments without any guidance. There is the option for users to choose investment goals and Savart then shows combinations of mutual fund, SIP, and STP plans for achieving these goals.

Savart's services include:

Suggesting investment portfolios based on one's needs, goals, risk appetite, etc.
Facilitates subscription and redemption of units by transmitting user’s money and instructions to AMCs based on instructions given by the users.
Securing user's personal and financial transactions related data.
Lets the users track their investments.
Facility to undertake 'KYC' requirements.

One can also access Savart's services through the Savart app. The app is available for both android and ios as well as on the web. The Savart app has several interesting features and has received positive reviews from customers. One such feature is ‘round-up’. Through this facility, Savart stacks up its customers' savings with loose change from every transaction and on the accumulation of a certain amount, the savings are invested into ETFs.

Savart strives to provide uncompromising advice and research to individuals and institutions irrespective of their quantum of investment. Savart envisions itself as an end-to-end investment services company that helps people realize their dreams & passion. Savart has its office in Hyderabad.

Savart - Industry Details

The asset management industry in India is one of the fastest growing segments in the world. Corporate investors AUM (Asset Under Management) stood at US$ 127.65 billion, while HNWIs (High Net Worth Individual) and retail investors reached US$ 99.05 billion and US$ 82.03 billion respectively in December 2018. India is among the top five countries in terms of HNWIs in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Wealth management industry is likely to grow at 10-15% in the next five years.

Savart - Founder And Team

Sankarsh Chanda is the founder and CEO of Savart.

Sankarsh founded Savart in 2017 when he was only 18 years old. He is a certified Research Analyst, investor, author and fund manager. Sankarsh's book Financial Nirvana that he wrote when he was just seventeen, explains the art of investment and how to profitably manage one's hard earned money.

Other core members of the Savart team are:

Aditya Ranade (Chief Investment Officer): Aditya worked with companies like RBS & Morgan Stanley before joining Savart.
Sridhar Vetapalem (Chief Financial Expert): He has 15+ years of fund management expertise.
Taruni Chandrasekhar (CFO): Taruni is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.
Pavan Kumar Kotamurthy (Research Analyst –Head): He is a Registered Investment Adviser, Research Analyst, MFD & ED certified, and was with NISM before joining Savart.
Prakash Raju (Rural Operations Head): He has 20+ years of expertise in rural marketing.

Savart - The Idea And Launch

The ideation happened when Sankarsh was only 14 years old. He read an article on“value investing” by Benjamin Graham which stressed on the importance of picking stocks trading for less than their intrinsic value for a profit opportunity. Sankarsh found the idea of value investing interesting and wanted to experiment with it. He convinced his elder sister and started trading through her Demat account. It began with just Rs 2000 that he got as a scholarship and saw his bets pay off quickly. Sankarsh continued thoroughly studying market trends and the balance sheets of different companies to build on his knowledge.

It was never an idea to startup or set up a company. It was a simple idea to give investment advice, build investment strategies and invest; over time, the idea of doing this at a scale and combining my philanthropic interests gave birth to Savart. - said Savart founder Sankarsh Chanda.

Sankarsh started freelancing and drawing investment strategies for individual clients when he was just 16 years old. He was seventeen when the Savart founder published his first book, Financial Nirvana. Meanwhile, Sankarsh joined the B.Tech. course in Bennett University, Greater Noida.

Ajay Batra, the Director of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Bennett university gave Sankarsh the confidence to start his venture. Sankarsh invested the money he earned through various investments for launching Savart. He interviewed about 400 people from diverse economic backgrounds to understand customer requirements better before working on Savart.

Savart - Name, Tagline, and Logo

Savart stands for ‘The Art of Savings’.

Savart Logo

The reason we give importance to saving in our name is because it is the fundamental requirement before beginning to invest. And we believe it sounds good too.

Savart's tagline is 'Invest Well. Live Better.' The tagline is a reflection of Savart’s commitment to helping people ‘live’ better and not just make quick money in the share market. The company’s aim is to help people realize their dreams and passion The current logo was finalized upon after some iterations and wasn't a one-time outcome. The circle inside the letter ‘t’ denotes 'one-stop solution’ and simplicity.

Savart - Business Model And Revenue Model

Savart’s services range from financial planning to investment advice and goal planning. Savart follows a simple revenue model; for the services provided, customers are charged as per the following plans:

For Investments between zero to 4,00,000, the charges are Rs.1299/- per annum.
For Investments exceeding INR. 4,00,000 , the charge comprises 0.5%(upfront fee)+ 3% of pre-tax net profits(performance fee).

The company charges 1-2% as commission for mutual fund investments.

Savart - Customer Acquisition

Savart’s initial set of customers came from the team's families and business connects obtained through referrals. Constant communication with the clients, keeping them in the loop, regular feedback collection, and constant improvements to its online platforms are some of the measures Savart takes to retain customers and uphold client satisfaction.

Savart - Funding

Raising funds has been an enriching experience for the Savart team, as said my Sankarsh. On May 6, 2018, Savart raised $100K in funding.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investor
May 2018	Pre-seed	$100K	Undisclosed

Savart - Challenges

Investing in people and finding the right talent has been a pain-point. Savart has upskilled several individuals to get the maximum out of its team as well as to help its employees move up the progress ladder. Sankarsh mentions that like every other startup, Savart also has downtime and that's when the team needs some extra motivation. The customer first mindset uplifts everyone in times of distress.

During our meetings, we have an empty chair and assume our customer is there, watching us work. This makes sure that we don’t get distracted or demotivated.

The company never fails to celebrate milestones, no matter how big or small. These include feature release, team member induction, and positive customer feedback among others. Reaching out to the masses and help them invest and make money is Sankarsh's personal motivation booster.

Savart - Competitors

There are many fintech startups that deal with stock, share and mutual funds investment. Some of them are Groww, Smallcase, and Sqrrl.

Savart seeks inspiration from different entities; it is inspired by companies like Zerodha in terms of reach and services, by the likes of Oaktree capital management in terms of their investment research and quality of the team. However, Savart differentiates itself from others through its deep-tech research, customer experience, and the niche customer segments it targets.

Savart - Achievements

Some significant achievements include:

Savart sold mutual funds worth Rs 3.5 crores and stocks worth Rs 2 crores within a month of launching its online platform.
The company is managing an AUM of around 100 crores.
Savart was featured as one of the most promising fintech startups in the world by Burnmark, London.

Savart - Awards

Savart has received the following awards:

SMC Startup pitch Award – Mumbai 2018.
T20 Starpreneuer of the Year – Mumbai.
Delhi - NCR TiECoN’s QGLUE Design Entrepreneur of the Year.

Savart - Partners

Savart has partnered with Bombay Stock Exchange for mutual funds. It is also licensed as a Registered Investment Advisor by SEBI.

Savart is not a broker. So, it has partnered with Upstox, a Mumbai based discount broking firm , for final transactions. Savart is looking forward to partnerships with some other digital brokers. The startup is also in touch with banking correspondents to enhance its offline presence.

Savart - Advisors And Mentors

According to Sankarsh, a mentor is one who adds direction and motivation to the business, offers continuous constructive criticism, and helps build the right culture for the organization. Savart is being mentored by the following experts:

Ajay Batra: Mentor and Business Adviser, Director Bennett Hatchery, ex-Citibank. It was Mr. Batra who gave Sankarsh the confidence and support to think of entrepreneurship, and is mentoring Savart since day one.

Sandeep Kataria: Ex-Marketing Head, Voonik and CureFit.

Hemkumar Vajjha: Chief Technology Adviser MD, Impetus Solutions.

Venkat: Development Head - Tech, Impetus Solutions, 25+ years of tech expertise.

Savart - Future Plans

Savart is all set for expansion and growth. Savart's major bucket list items for the future are:

Opening offline stores.
Installing automated investment machine. The machine will be set up as an offline kiosk and users will be able to make investments using a debit card or cheque.
Making the Savart platform available in languages like Hindi, Telugu, and Gujarati.

Website - Savart

Savart - FAQs

Who is the CEO of Savart?

Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder & CEO of Savart

How much is the Networth of Savart?

Savart advises over 100 crore rupees in assets and works with clients from over 30 countries. (As of January 2020)

What is Savart?

Who is Sankarsh Chanda?