Dale Vaz, a former chief technology officer (CTO) of e-commerce company Swiggy, launched a stock trading platform Sahi on 10 December, after raising $7 million in its seed funding round last year.
“A lot of people, especially from the younger generation, share a passion for making their money work for them. However, publicly available data shows that individual traders are currently losing money,” Vaz told Mint.
A recent Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) study revealed that over 1 crore F&O traders lost ₹1.81 trillion during FY22-FY24, with 91% losing money in FY24.
Vaz, along with Manish Jain, former vice-president of Kotak Securities, have raised funds from investors including Accel and Elevation Capital to build Sahi. The company aims to empower such active investors and traders with access to professional-grade tools.
“It’s about combining sophistication with simplicity, allowing people to access these products that helps them truly understand their actions, make informed decisions, and improve their trading or investment strategies,” he added. Both co-founders, Vaz and Jain, have experience as retail traders in the stock market, with Vaz actively trading to this day.
Offering market insights
Sahi’s mobile trading terminal offers AI-driven market insights, in-house charting and execution tools, integrated market scanners, and a customizable interface based on the trader’s requirements. The mobile app is now available for download on the Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store.
Vaz joined Swiggy in 2018 as the head of engineering and data science, later stepping into the role of group CTO in early 2020. During his tenure, he oversaw the technology operations for Swiggy Food, Swiggy Instamart, Dineout, SuprDaily, Swiggy Genie, Minis, Meat, and the alcohol delivery service. “At Swiggy, we were obsessed with ensuring every order was delivered on time, and we’re bringing that same level of focus and dedication to Sahi as well,” said Vaz.
Sahi has acquired its registration with NSE, BSE and has also secured the depository licence from Central Depository Services Ltd to operate as a Sebi-registered broker in India, said Vaz.
The platform will compete with market leaders like Zerodha and Groww. According to latest data collated by Motilal Oswal, the market share of Groww stood at 25.1%, while Zerodha’s slipped to 17.1% in July.
“Most brokers have created one blanket solution which works for everyone, but they’ve not handcrafted it for a particular user cohort or user segment. We are trying to do that,” Jain told Mint.
The duo is using the funding raised to enhance product features, leveraging AI and analytics to simplify market insights, ensuring platform stability and fast execution, and offering personalized user experiences, Jain said.
