Micro gold savings and investment app Jar plans to go beyond gold and offer titles such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and sovereign gold bonds (SGB) through its platform.

According to a Registrar of Companies (ROC) filing assessed by Your storythe company has received board approval to form a subsidiary company under the name of ‘Safejar Advisors Private Limited’ for this purpose. The name of the subsidiary is subject to the approval of the ROC.

According to the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, a company carrying on business as a registered investment adviser cannot engage in the distribution of unregulated commodities such as digital gold. Therefore, the company offered to form a wholly-owned subsidiary to obtain the expansion licenses, according to the filing.

In line with its business diversification plan, Jar will expand its offerings to cover ETFs, SGBs and other securities through its platform.

Founded by Nishchay AG and Misbah Ashraf, the Bengaluru-based app allows users to make daily savings by taking currency from their online transactions and automatically investing it in digital gold. Investments in digital gold are backed by physical gold of the same amount, and investors can choose to withdraw that much gold or liquidate it at any time.

At present, the year-old app claims to have a registered user base of over 4.7 million, processing over 100 transactions per minute on its platform.

Jar is in direct competition with applications such as Gullak and spanny, in addition to other savings and investment applications, such as Enjoythat operate on the loose change model but invest in mutual funds.

Jar seems to follow the economic model of international startups such as Tassels, Hideout, and Chock. These apps work on the spare model and then recommend an investment plan for users based on goals, job, and income. Acorns offers five diversified portfolios of ETFs and is now heading into crypto.

Build a slice for new offers

In May 2022, Jar was reportedly in talks to close a new round of funding (B-series) to the tune of $50 million, led by its existing investor World Tiger, with participation from Rocketship, Third Prime and Stonks.

Tracker was the first to give the information.

The new round of funding would come just months after the startup raised $32 million in a Tiger-led Series A round in February 2022. Rocketship.vc, Third Prime, Stonks, Force Ventures, Arkam Ventures and WEH also participated in the round. The Series A followed a seed funding of $4.5 million in August 2021.

Responding to Your story questions, Jar co-founder Nischay said it was too early to comment, but he confirmed the company’s foray into other investment tools in the near future.