How Shark Tank India association is helping smallcase engage with young Indians

Smallcase is a financial technology firm that is developing a platform for direct indexing and model portfolios of equities and ETFs, called smallcases. Smallcase has built an ecosystem of 350+ capital markets enterprises over the last six years. Some of India’s most well-known financial institutions and companies use the smallcases platform and technology.

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Smallcase recently announced the launch of its new digital-first brand campaign. Two films scripted by Tanmay Bhat, Devaiah Bopanna and Puneet Chadha and directed by Ryan Mendonca showcase role-reversal between kids and adults as a device to land benefits of research-backed investing with smallcase. The campaign was launched during ‘Shark Tank India Season 2’ on SonyLIV. The second season of ‘Shark Tank India’ is co-powered by smallcase. As part of this association, smallcase is the ‘Ideas partner’ of the show. Through this association, smallcase aims to reach a large number of investors and contribute to the booming entrepreneurship and equity culture in India.

In conversation with Adgully, Aniket Thakkar, VP - Marketing, smallcase, speaks at length about their association with ‘Shark Tank India Season 2’, their marketing strategy for 2023, and much more.

Could you share some details about your association with ‘Shark Tank India Season 2’? Why did you want to partner with the show?

The second season of ‘Shark Tank India’ is co-powered by smallcase. As part of this association, we are the show’s ‘Ideas Partner’ and will offer a product experience to select teams with innovative ideas.

The show celebrates innovation much in the same way as smallcases are portfolios based on innovative investment ideas, making this a great association for us. We wanted to use this opportunity to introduce young Indians to smallcase. Through this association, we hope to reach a large number of investors and contribute to the booming entrepreneurship and equity culture.

What are your marketing/ campaign plans for the year 2023?

Our most recent campaign during Muhurat trading on Diwali day was a roaring success. We came up with three creatives that reminded our target audience about the auspicious investing hour on Muhurat day with a curated collection of smallcases. We also gave them a way to set up investment reminders during Muhurat hour.

The fact that the India-Pakistan match (World Cup) was scheduled one day before Muhurat was a perfect opportunity for us to capitalise on and our brand films were aired during the match. We saw a 74% uptick in new subscriptions and user growth compared to Muhurat 2021.

We are starting off 2023 with ‘Shark Tank India’ co-sponsorship and a major brand campaign around it, which will continue till Budget 2023. We intend to double our brand spends in FY’24 to drive awareness around our product offerings. The Top 20 cities in India will continue to be the priority markets for us.

What are the upcoming business plans?

Our plan for the future is to continue to make smallcases a core part of every investor’s long-term portfolio. We are continuously working on building diverse products, expanding to more asset classes and instruments, working with multiple channels and building a vast ecosystem of business partners who will offer smallcases to their audiences. We have added REITs as an asset class in addition to stocks and ETFs and will be looking to add global equities soon, bonds and others in the future. We are developing more features around smallcases for easier and better financial futures for our users.

Why are smallcases the best way to “invest in ideas”?

Not everyone has the expertise that is required to research, select and trade with single stocks on a daily basis. Nor does everyone have the time to track stock market movements daily and update their portfolio. For user that want to explore long-term investment opportunities around equities, we created smallcase as a platform based on these core user insights – a large number of people who had investable income and wanted to explore long-term equity investments – needed a simple platform to enable them to invest in equities and have an expert guide them along the way.

smallcases are baskets of securities based on a specific idea, theme or strategy, managed by SEBI-registered professionals. Currently, we have smallcases that comprise stocks, ETFs (exchange traded funds) and REITs (real estate investment trusts).

We have over 500 such ready-made portfolios that explore themes like:

• Asset-allocation based smallcases with ETFs (ex: All Weather Investing, Equity & Gold)
• Factor based strategies (ex: smart beta, dividend based)
• Model based (ex: Value, Momentum etc.)
• Sector specific (IT, Realty, FMCG, Auto, Banking, etc)
• Thematic (Corporate Governance, Rural Demand, Renewable Energy, Electric Mobility)

These innovative smallcases are available for both new and experienced investors to diversify their long-term equity portfolios. Stock portfolios relating to relatable ideas help them take a healthy approach to equity investing. Simple ideas help them understand what they are investing in.

smallcase does the same with investment ideas. There are hundreds of ideas that have the potential to become the next big thing in India’s growth story. We enable our users to invest in that journey and build a strong portfolio in the process.