There’s a line between sound and poor investment advice and when fintech gurus or ‘finfluencers’ cross this line only to manipulate their followers, SEBI tends to crack the whip. That’s the hard truth learnt by subscription-based influencer and creator platform Rigi.

Founded by Ananya Singhal and Swapnil Saurav in 2021, Rigi has pulled the plug on its core finfluencer platform after such unregistered creators came under SEBI’s glare.

The public markets regulator has issued several notices since 2023 to unauthorised investment advisors or finfluencers associated with Rigi for giving advice to retail investors via private Telegram channels.

And just a few months after launching a dedicated app only for SEBI-registered advisors, the company has pulled the plug and is now focussed on the beauty and personal care creator ecosystem instead.

In many ways, this seems like Rigi’s last roll of the dice, which suffered a significant slowdown and had to cut back on several fronts after SEBI’s actions and penalties.

Having last raised funds more than two years ago, Rigi needs the beauty bet to work, but it’s not going to be an easy way out after the rollercoaster of the past two years.

Rigi Cashes In On The Trading Boom

Hundreds of social media channels and chat groups emerged during and after the pandemic, as retail investors sought to capitalise on the booming stock markets following the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) adopted by most central banks. In just five years (FY20 to FY24), the number of demat accounts in India has skyrocketed from 4 Cr to a staggering 15 Cr.

Singhal and Saurav — both BITS Pilani graduates — started in 2021 to create an ecosystem that could support and enable the creator ecosystem emerging in areas such as investment advice, fantasy sports, and lifestyle content.

Rigi’s strategy was not limited to investment and finance advice – it roped in creators from diverse areas like fitness, beauty, sports and gaming, nutrition, and travel. But personal finance and trading became a huge monetisation play and it focussed its energies on creators in this space.

Rigi leveraged the stock market boom to help influencers in this domain reach a larger audience through educational courses created on its website and app. The business model involved launching paid Telegram channels for finfluencers, managing their payments, and providing tech support for their third-party apps and social media channels.

It also hosted content in the form of courses, webinars and videos under a subscription plan starting from INR 499. In terms of the commission, Rigi typically charged 5%-7% on the cumulative earnings made by the creators or influencers.

The idea took off and Rigi attracted investors like Accel, Elevation Capital, Peak XV Partners, CRED’s Kunal Shah, NoBroker’s Amit Kumar Agarwal, Country Delight’s Chakradhar Gade, social media influencer Sharan Hegde, and former Indian captain MS Dhoni.

The startup has raised $25 Mn till date, and last raised $12.5 Mn in January 2023 led by Elevation Capital.

The Rigi website claims to have more than 10 Lakh content creators so far. A bulk of these came in the........

© Inc42