💸 Acquisition project | Groww

💸

Acquisition project | Groww

Section 1: About the product, growth, competitor landscape

About the product:

Groww started with a vision - "Ab India Karega Invest (AIKI)", that is akin to making investing accessible, affordable, understandable in India. In a nutshell Groww is aiming to simplify finance in India. Through Groww one can invest in Mutual Funds, Stocks, ETFs and trade in F&Os.

Quick Stats:

Avg Rating app rating 4.1
Android App downloads: 50mn+
$3Bn valuation as on Oct 2021
Active user base as on Feb 2024 - 9.1Mn*

*Active user base as per NSE are users who have made atleast one transaction in that financial year. Hence no of registered users is not considered when evaluation brokers.

Growth:

From a mutual fund distributor in 2017 to becoming the largest broker in India (in terms of active users), groww is poineering towards become a financial services super app.

Competitor Snapshot:

As of Feb 2024:

App	A/C opening charge	AMC	Delivery Charges*	Knowledge Center	Avg App Rating
Groww	0	Free	20 per executed order or 0.05% whichever is lower	Available	4.2
Zerodha	200	300	0	Varsity	3.5
Upstox	0	150	20 per executed order or 2.5% whichever is lower	Uplearn	4.2
Angel One	0	240	0	Available	4.2

source: https://www.chittorgarh.com/comparebroker/upstox-vs-groww/33/173/

Section 2: User Research, Ideal Customer Profile, Market Sizing [source]

User Research:

Recruitement of participants

After doing a lot of secondary research, Groww's maximum user base is from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. They started with their journey of Simplifying investment for the Mass Market in India (As per Elevation capital report). I interview random people from all works of life and different income brackets to understand their approach towards personal finance

Macro-level objective:

Understand from individuals who have monthly income or savings in some form, what is their approach towards personal finance and money management. This will help me define my ICP and also build acquisition strategy accordingly

Micro-level objective:

How do manage their money post monthly expenses
Where do they seek information related to savings and investments
What is their primary goal for saving or making an investment
Users with low income levels are worried about fraud and don't trust cold calling very easily but rely on friends suggestion of their or clients (Cooks, househelp, gym trainers)
People need more education around investing
People with affluent and higher income level follow financial influencer to make investment decisions
HNI Clients rely on Relationship managers to make the decision on their behalf

Key Insights:

Users rely a lot on word of mouth and recommendations by friends to explore an investment app
They understand the power of compounding and making monthly investments
90% of users have goals of creating a retirement corpus

Ideal Customer Profile

Based on the value propostion that groww has to offer:

Simplifying investments in India for the next Billion also the macro narrative which is changing from -

"Roti, Kapda, Makaan, Data" to "Roti, Kapda, Makaan, Data & Equity"

ICP 1:

Avg annual income around 2L - 3L
Aspirational to research on their own on youtube by seeing ads and asking around
Ready to save 15%-20% every month as part of their earnings
Attached investment to a future goal

ICP 2:

Avg annual income above > 30LPA
Follow financial influencers and research on their own to make an investment decision. Diversified portfolio
30-40% of their monthly income
Attached to a future goal: Start a business, retirement planning

Influencers ✅

Low cost and low barrier to entry into stock and mutual fund investing
Power of compounding, make your money grow.

Blockers 🚫

Don't trust online platform and need human touch for getting started, are worried about scam and fraud
Too many apps to manage and would stick to the app linked to savings account
Stock market is gambling and not for everyone

ICPS for Groww:

As per elevation capital report definition of two ICPS are: affluenct class is anywhere the Annual income is 30 - 60LPA and Mass Market avg income is 2-3 LPA which is also India 1 and India 2 definition

Other users:

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P0Tdxlc7hwatdHGIrVpIYZHvUCyFXpU546n1tCw80uY/edit#gid=1987728147

User Research Raw Data:

Easier to consume here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P0Tdxlc7hwatdHGIrVpIYZHvUCyFXpU546n1tCw80uY/edit#gid=885246805

Parameters

Alisha (Friend)

Jitu (Neighbourhood Kirana)

Rajan (Neighbour's cook)

Anil (Personal Trainer)

Harsha (Parlour didi)

Laxman (Fruit vendor)

Abhay (Colleague)

Udit (Colleague)

Krunal (GX19 fellow)

Vanshika (GX19 fellow)

Rishabh (GX19 fellow)

Anirudh (Growth X member)

Demographic

Age

Gender

Female

Male

Female

Male

Female

Male

Profession

Visual Artist

Business owner (Kirana Store)

Cook

Gym Trainer

Beauty parlour specialist

Fruit vendor

Senior SW Engineer

Product Manager

Growth Lead

Account Manager

Food start-up founder

Community manager

City

Mumbai

Hamirpur

Dehradhun

Mumbai

Bangalore

Origin City

Mumbai

Darbanga (Bihar)

Amethi (UP)

Belgaum

Gopalganj

Hamirpur

Dehradhun

Mumbai

Jabalpur

Rajasthan - Alwar

Jaipur

Income Level

40-45 LPA

7-8 LPA

2-2.5 LPA

6 - 7 LPA

4-5LPA

5-6LPA

35-40LPA

30-35LPA

12LPA

15-25LPA

30-45L

3-4lpa

Category (calculated)

HNI+

Mass Market

Mass Market - Below Mass

Mass Market

Affluent +

Dependents

None

Married

Yes

Have kids

Yes

Earning members in the family

2 (Husband and Self)

3 (Brother, Father, Self)

4 (Brother, Father, Self)

Self

2 (Self and Husband)

Self

Languages

English, Hindi

English, Hindi, Gujurat

Hindi, Bihari

Hindi

Hindi, Marathi

Hindi, Bihar

English, Hindi

Behaviour and Usage

Device

Iphone 13

Vivo

Redmi

Oppo Renu

iPhone 15

Redmi Android

Samsung

Oneplus

iPhone 13

Android

Model - One plus

Android

Social Media/Content apps used

Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Pinterest

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube , Whatsapp

Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Whatsapp, Telegram

Youtube, Facebook, Whatsapp

Instagram, Youtube

Youtube, Facebook,

Youtube, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, Github

Youtube, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter , Money control

Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, youtube

Pinterest, Youtube, Instagram

Linked, Instagram, Youtube, Spotify, Whatsapp, GMAIL

Linkedin, Instagram,

Content consumption

Fitness, Household, Interior, Baby

Videos, reels, ads

Cooking videos, funny videos

Spiritual Content

To see make-up videos, cooking videos

Cricket, Political News, Song videos

Sports, Tech, Business, Start-up, Finance, Sci-Fi

Finance, Stock Market

Documentatores and Dark humour

Penchant for Art and artisticly pleasing content. Financial Data and browse randomly

Podcast related to GrowthX Business and start-ups

Philosphical

TV series - Dice media , Short web series

Paid Subscription - Prime , Spotify , Linkedin

Youtube - Free

Finance creators - Sharan, Akshat shirvatsav

Do you do online shopping

Yes - Myntra, Amazon

Yes- Amazon

Yes - Meesho, Amazon

Amazon, Flipkart

Flipkart and Amazon

Yes

Swiggy, Myntra, Ajio, Mynra

Myntra and Nykaa

Yes and No, Generally use Amazon or Myntra for shopping purposes. For clothing related. UI and UX

Where all do you spend money?

Household, Apparals

Clothes, Electronics

Household, Baby items,Clothes

Clothes, household itens

Clothes for kids

Gadgets

Sports gear, clothes

Clothes and Beauty

1. Casual Clothing

2. Perfumes

3. Health and fitness

Investment & Personal Finance habits

What are some of the common instruments do you invest in eg: Gold, Fixed deposit, RD, Insurance, Real estate ?

Decently diversified - FD, Mutual Funds, Stocks, ETFs

LIC - Insurance

Savings account - Don't know how to manage

Trading on a demo account - learning

LIC agent came home and they opened an account, 3200 per month

Real estate - appreciation

4 - 7 lakh price appreciation in 4 years

Share market - Angel broking app,

SIP mutual fund, Mirae asset

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, Medical Insurance

Fixed Deposit, Insurance, NPS, Mutual Fund (SIP) Through our insurance agent in SBI bank

Bank Savings in SBI bank. No knowledge of other savings option. I send money home for expenses

Stocks, Mutual Funds, Crypto

Stocks, Mutual Funds, F&O, IPOs

Equity, Smart Deposit, ETF

Safe investor, MFs and SIPs, FDs and PPFs

"Started with FD and started less amount.And stopped.

Mutual and Stock market - Equity funds.

Stock - Big brands

How did you move from FD to stock and MF?

1. Friends at office and have this discussion. Where to invest and what all to invest z

2. Direct work was commodity trading

Following channel and spaces - Ankur Warikoo and some influencers. More around distributing knowledge "

Paused investing for now

Long-term goals for investment

Wealth Creation, retirement planning

Future security, generate future wealth for emergency

Wealth creation, buy land

Children's education, Passive income

Savings corpus and open beauty parlour

Savings, buy land and emergency

Retire early want exponential asset growth. To invest in start-ups

Become a research advisor through learn how to grow money

Future education (MBA) and wealth creation

For Starting own business

Objective: secondary source of income

Interesting in Trading for now

How often do you check the value of your investment ?

Once a month

Once a week

Daily

Weekly

I don't check - Passive investor

Daily

Monthly

Weekly

Type of Investor

Long-term

Long-term, Trader for fun

Long-term

Long to short

Long and Short-term trader

Medium

Long-term

Trader

What % of your monthly income do you invest

40%

15%

20%

15%

40%

20%

40%

10% in trading and 30% in Investing

30-50% direct goes into savings and investment. Monthly basis

30-40-40 rule

30% savings and investments

40% - Need

40 - Desire

Leisure and entirement and share remains the same

Which app do you use

HDFC securities

Sharekhan for shares

LIC - Through an Agent

Metatrade, angelone

Angel one, Mirae Asset, NJtrade

SBI bank through our agent

SBI bank

Zerodha, Coin, Binance

Zerodha, Money control, Groww for investments, Crypto

Fimoney , Kite

Groww

Paytm - Mutual Funds (Friend recommended)

Axis Direct - Stock investing (For compliance reasons)

Moved to Axis Direct Ring

Not actively investing

Upstox, Groww"Used couple of apps - Zerodha, Groww, Upstox.

Looks very plain as compared

I prefer groww - UI is very good.

Whenever you want to invest in IPO groww was the easiest "

Where did u hear?

Husband

Friends and advertising - Instagram, FB

Telegram channel, whatsapp, youtube, Ads

Facebook, I have no knowledge. A client helped me in the gym.

I moved to Mirae for trading as Angel broking was very expensive. Use google search also to readh

My husband helped me, he heard from his friend at work. (Her husband is a worker in the production house of Balaji)

Village friends helped

Online I research a lot and discuss with friends and colleagues coz i am in fintech

Self research

Fi - Randomly and try new fintech apps

Kite- Friends (Birthday gift)

Friends

Friends and work place

Marketing and PR. Groww is very Viral

Content marketing on youtube and instagram

What are some of the key criterias you consider before making an investment decisons

Past performance, Sector, Topical News

Company performance , Company website , friends and online

Google search is common, Company health - ups and downs

Company market cap, past performance, profitability, Ratios - PE and EPS

I ask the agent uncle to do the needful. He takes money every quarter and invests in our intstruments

Money should be safe and secure. I don't trust stock market

Topical news, past formance, stable returns, large cap

Charts and screening tools on Tickertape and Zerodha

Company financials and qtrly filings

"IndexFund - tracks all the indexes , no time to research

Goldbees and liquid - Diversification

Stock research - Read qtrly reports. Whitepaper and ask Chatgpt

Tickertape - Screener. Integration with Zerodha - overall sentiment "

"Tickertape for investing to analyse fundamental. Brand and also studying the market. Per share pprice.

Blogs - Finshots, sharan hegde "

How often do you discuss about your purchases or investments with your friends and family?

Once a while when i have some decent returns and dividends

Don't recall

Yes on whatsapp

Frequently

Never

Frequently

Frequently. I have a whatsapp channel

Where do you consume information related to investments

Money Control, HDFC reports, Youtube, Relationshp Advisor on Whatsapp

Google search, Sharekhan website, company website

Telegram channel, whatsapp, youtube, Ads

Youtube videos, google search

I don't

Youtube Influencers, company reports, Money control

Company research

Self research

Basics - ICICI bank mobile

Invest and understand - Groww

Understand the market and where to invest - Fluencer and youtube

Specific Fluencer - Rachana Ranade and Ankur Varikoo

Twitter, youtube, blog

Finance Sharan,

Creators - Akshat shrivatsav for finance

How likely are you to recommend Investing and personal finance management to your friend?

Very Likely. It has ensured i follow discplined investing and I feel empowered

Very Likely

Yes i share and i get rewards I will be happy

Yes I will. As i feel good that my money is helping our future goals and I am saving

Very highly as I have generated positive returns

Very likely.

Likely

Strongly

Beginner and not a trader. Il recommend groww

What are some of the biggest Hurdles in Imvesting

Goal based investing and next opportunity to invest. A single platform for everything

Nothing

Knowledge, Scared of fraud, someone needs to explain how to do and charges

Lack of Knowledge, Gamble market, Money can do down, Fraud and scam

Lack of knowledge

Fraud and losses

Consolidated view

None

1. Crypto is discouraged

2. No issues

Information aggregation

"Knowledge available is very scattered, some sort of streamlined data and information

Groww was pushed by colleagues, i use to put keywords on google. And google use to bombard you and that is when influencer

Educational platform and h olistic and streamlined "

"1. Problem logging in UX , took 7 days on Paytm

2. Disconnectivity in financial services. Customer support. Resolve "

Frequency of investment

Once a month for Mutual Fund SIP and Stocks based on news and need basis

Depend on market

1-2/month

Cash flow is not steady and hence can't decide.

Monthly

Never

Need basis to Monthly

Fortnightly

Monthly

What is your first impression about Groww?

Easy to use and clean, Clutter free

Never heard about Groww

Seen videos

Don't recall

Don't know

Easy to use and decluttered

UI/UX

2019 - apps that promote a lot get a negative impression and trying to hard to get customers. Like Groww and Upstox

User Friendly

Used couple of apps - Zerodha, Groww, Upstox.

Looks very plain as compared

I prefer groww - UI is very good.

Whenever you want to invest in IPO groww was the easiest

Where did you hear about Groww?

Friends told me its low-cost

Facebook Ads

Friend recommened

At work

Organic Research

Friends at work

Friends and marketing ads

Marketing and PR. Groww is very Viral

Content marketing on youtube and instagram

Market Sizing:

“There were close to 200 million people with investable income in India, while only 20 million actively invested and the way to bring the next 180 million on board was by making investing simple” - Groww’s founder, Lalit Keshre

At a broad-level this was the market sizing down by the founder of the app when starting the journey.

Addressable Revenue:

Groww avg revenue per transaction for stocks - Rs. 20
On an average the order value given for Mass Market would be around ~ 10k/month * 12 which makes it to be around 1,20,000 per annum
On an average the order value for Affluent Market per annum would be 30% of their salary (35LPA) which amounts 10,00,000 per annum in volume

TAM for overall market for Groww is = 450 mn

Taking avg of order value for both ICPs = 0.5 mn

Servicable Addressable Revenue

Users who have savings account have ability to invest in stocks as they have liquid cash

~77% of the total TAM

Servicable Obtainable Revenue

Market share of Groww is 11% as compared to other brokers in terms of revenue

Section 3: Channel Prioritisation, New opportunities

Channel Prioristisation

Based on the User Research and Secondary Research, the below channels have qualified to put in effort for maximising growth fo Groww app.

Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P0Tdxlc7hwatdHGIrVpIYZHvUCyFXpU546n1tCw80uY/edit#gid=398667634

Priority 1 - Referral Marketing

Groww has seen a strong Word of mouth publicitiy in its initial PMF days and early scaling days. The network effort framework worked well for groww in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Few things that worked from 1 - many scale point of view:

Whatsapp communities
Micro communities in Tier 2 and Tier 3

From user research we have the following insights that

Framework
Who & When should you ask	Aha moment - Booked profits, Received dividends,	Second order effect - Placed order successfully, Tracking investments	User has rated the app as 4 and above
How will they refer	Home screen discovery , post aha moments	Accounts menu
Why wil they refer?	Incentive to invest on the platform

Brag worthy moment: (How, where, who)

Since investment apps have delayed gratification we can nudge users for referally during the below points in their journey:

Booked profit of an investment done through Groww: The first principle of investment app is to generate positive returns in the long-term for a investor
Account opening flow done seamlessly : Given the traditional app tedious KYC process, groww has simplified account opening by using e-kyc and other agencies
Applied for IPO and shares alloted:
Second order effect: Add a nudge on the home screen if the user has
1. Rated above 4 on the app or play store
2. Given a promotor rating of NPS on the app
3. Left a positive review or given a high CSAT score on chat

Happy flows: As shown below are the brag-worthy and aha moments for a product like Groww

Platform Currency (What and why)

Referrer:

Investment product or funds to invest in an instrument
Waiving of transaction charges will not excite the customers as the amount is very less compared to the amount they are investing
Credits in the account which can be redeemed to make transactions in Mutual Fund SIPs

Referee

Waived of charges for their first transaction
Credits in the account to get started instantaneously in Mutual Fund SIPs

Why mutual fund SIP as incentive?
There is business vaibility in this as we are nudging users to take the first step towards Mutual Fund SIP and subsequent SIPs they can place order and Groww platform can earn commission. Mutual Fund is beneficial in the long-term if invested regularly via SIPs (Power of Compounding)

How will they discover on the platform?

As show in the brag moment, we will add banners and nudges in the above points which qualify as Aha moments for the user while they are using the app.

How will they share the referral Link?

Share direct message on Whatsapp (1 to few)
Copy link and post on Social media (1 to many)

Referral Flow:

User 1 refers a friend to join Groww app (User 2)
User 2 installs the app
User 1 will only get the credits in their account once User 2 has activated their account i.e. made a successful transaction
Once U2 has transacted and has a holiday period of 3 months in the invested Mutual Fund, if U2 exits before that U1 won't be eligible for the offer
U1 will get the reward once U2 has invested

Priority 2 - Paid Ads

Selecting the Mass market category of customers who have the aspiration and enthusiasm to learn and start their investment journey and also maintain a regular cadence with their investment. Hence stickness of such users will be high if we are successfully able to onboard them

As most of these users spend most their time on Facebook and Youtube consuming content. We can target them on these platforms and show relevant adds with the following creative pitch

ICP 2 - Mass Market, Low income group and active on Facebook and Youtube.


Channel Selection	Youtube Ads, and Facbook Ads
Audience Segment	Tier 2 and Tier 3 city evening users living in Tier 1 city are respresentive of 2 and 3 segment
Campaign Structure	Objective: App install to Sign-up Ad Groups: Android, 21-41 Ad Creative : Channel Specific

Channel Selection

Youtube Ads, and Facbook Ads

Audience Segment

Tier 2 and Tier 3 city evening users living in Tier 1 city are respresentive of 2 and 3 segment

Campaign Structure

Objective: App install to Sign-up

Ad Groups: Android, 21-41

Ad Creative : Channel Specific

Pitch:

Low cost, easy to investing and simple to getting started

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJSIj0HxcE8

Pitch:

Highlights how you can invest in a diversified portfolio by taking a position in the index fund and capitalise on all sector growth
Reference : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jopopLFTdwU