Today we’re going to talk about a two-year old startup invested by Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai.

Founded by a team of former Google executives, Arta Finance transforms the way people grow, protect and enjoy wealth by helping people gain the financial superpowers that were previously the domain of ultra-high net worth individuals. 

It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable intelligent investing in public market equities, as well as other alternative asset classes such as private equity, venture capital and real estate. 

The platform aims to serve professionals who have a higher net worth but are not yet able to access private bank services or to have their own family offices. Think of Arta Finance like a personal digital family office with lower barriers to entry. 

Since coming out of stealth mode in late 2022, the firm has raised over US$90 million from institutional investors such as Peak XV Partners (also formerly known as Sequoia Capital India), Ribbit Capital, Coatue and over 140 luminaries in the tech and finance space – including, again, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. But what is in it for this group of players to come onboard?

Meanwhile, the firm started offering its services in the US through an invite-only model in early 2023 and has since managed over US$100 million on members’ behalf. It plans to open its services in Singapore sometime this year. 

But why did the firm choose the US and Singapore as markets to enter into as a start? What can we expect from its Singapore launch? 

How far will the firm’s plans to expand aggressively take off from here? And how far away is it from becoming the next fintech unicorn? 

On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Caesar Sengupta, Co-Founder and CEO at Arta Finance and Amanda Ong, Country Manager, Arta Finance Singapore.