Alternative investment platform Altitude raises $500k in pre-seed round

Altitude, a financial services platform offering alternative investment tools, has raised around $500k in a pre-seed funding round that saw participation from over 40 investors from notable institutions and various sectors.

The list of investors included founders and leaders from well-known companies like Swiggy/DineOut, YES Bank, Good Glamm Group, Robinhood, and Wipro, among others.  

The funds will accelerate the launch of the venture’s flagship product ‘Altitude Prism’, which is a structured fixed income instrument, which the start-up also aims to list on the NSE.  

Prism is Altitude’s inaugural multi-asset fund that can yield returns between 16 and 18 per cent. Meanwhile, a part of the funds will also be used to strengthen the leadership in fund and risk management teams at Altitude.  

Altitude is aiming to create a financial ecosystem with superior investment opportunities while making this ecosystem accessible to a wider audience as investors can find a new class of alternative on the platform that are beyond the usual corporate and NBFC bonds.  

The platform will cater to both existing and new investors. The key differentiator between Altitude and other investment platforms is that it promises annual yields of 16-18 per cent, a notable delta of 4-5 per cent over conventional fixed-income products.  

While the Prism Fund is the first offering from Altitude, the fund’s diverse holdings are sourced from private market opportunities that were historically off-limits to individual investors.  

“At Altitude, we are on a mission to expand the fixed income horizon with safe and high-yield investment instruments. The funding we have raised is an important milestone in realising that mission,” said Krishna Maggo, Founder of Altitude.  

“The interest from investors is a reflection of their endorsement of Altitude’s vision to transform the investment landscape. At Altitude, we are crafting high-yield investment instruments that not only promise exceptional returns on traditional assets but also introduce essential features such as diversification and early liquidity,” he added.  

India’s alternative investment landscape has grown seven times in the last five years even as Indian investors are on a quest for better returns while being confined to annual yields between 8-11 per cent for years now.   

Altitude is led by a team of investment professionals hailing from various entities like INDMoney, Bank of America, and Kotak Private Bank among others.  

“In a market where investors have long hungered for better returns, Altitude’s commitment to transforming the investment landscape with safe and high-yield instruments, exemplified by the upcoming Prism fund offering 16-18 per cent yield, couldn't be timelier,” said Gaurav Sharma, an investor in Altitude and a former Vice President at INDMoney.