Crowwd: Bringing Clarity and Credibility to Retail Investing

At just 24, Ajitesh Gupta is quietly leading one of the most promising shifts in India’s financial content space. After co-founding Crowwd in Europe, backed by the renowned HEXA incubator and a total of 19 investors from India and Europe, Ajitesh brought the company to India in early 2024 and in under a year, turned it into a multi-million dollar startup. Now at the helm of a fast-growing team, he’s building Crowwd into a platform that’s redefining how India’s new wave of retail investors discover, trust, and act on financial insights.

From Internships to Impact: A Journey Built on Learning

Ajitesh grew up in Delhi and went on to study Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh on a scholarship. He later pursued an MSc in Management from Imperial College London. His early career took him through diverse roles from Deutsche Bank to PepsiCo and Bentley Systems giving him exposure to both numbers and strategy. He also played an early role in the founding team of Plaksha University.

After a few startup attempts—including one successful exit—Ajitesh, Nicolas, and Johannes found themselves reflecting on a shared frustration: investing as a beginner was confusing and noisy. The problem wasn’t a lack of content, but a lack of clarity and reliability.

“Two years ago, the three of us were just friends catching up over coffee,” Ajitesh recalls. “We realised we’d all struggled with the same thing trying to find reliable investing advice online and ending up with more confusion than clarity. That moment sparked something.”

Crowwd: Built From a Shared Problem

That café conversation turned into the foundation for Crowwd - a platform designed to help people invest better by giving them access to credible insights, not just viral opinions. The idea was simple: make finance more transparent, personalised, and useful, especially for the growing number of retail investors across the world.

Crowwd started in Europe and quickly gained early traction -  partnering with 45+ university clubs across six countries and getting support from a leading European startup studio. But the real momentum came from a surprising direction: India.

A Bold Pivot to India

In January 2024, Ajitesh moved back to India with just two team members to explore the growing interest from Indian users. What followed was rapid expansion. In under seven months, Crowwd scaled to a 50-member team, partnered with SEBI-research analysts, 30+ creators, and 50+ colleges including IITs, IIMs, SRCC, LSR, and many more. Today, India accounts for over 70% of Crowwd’s traffic.

This growth prompted the team to relocate Crowwd’s parent company to India and raise a fresh round of funding from nine Indian fintech investors and industry veterans.

“We didn’t plan it this way. But when we saw how engaged the Indian retail investor community was, it felt natural to go all in,” Ajitesh explains. “We’ve just tried to stay close to the users and build what they actually need.”

What Sets Crowwd Apart?

At its core, Crowwd is about quality over popularity. It’s not another social investing app. It’s a platform that gives users what they actually need to grow:

• Insights from verified sources like SEBI-registered analysts and vetted finance creators

• AI-powered personalised feeds based on users’ preferences and learning journeys

• No hype, no spam just actionable insights from a merit-based content system

Instead of follower counts, Crowwd focuses on the quality and credibility of the work. And instead of financial “influencers,” Crowwd is spotlighting India’s next generation of finance thinkers, researchers, and investors.

Challenges and Learnings Along the Way

Like any startup, Crowwd has had its fair share of challenges from building a lean but effective product team to gaining trust in a skeptical industry. Shifting operations across continents, understanding the Indian regulatory space, and scaling content moderation weren’t easy.

But one thing worked in their favour: listening to users.

“We’ve spent time on campuses, in creator communities, and with analysts. That’s helped us stay grounded and make decisions based on what users genuinely want not what’s trending.”

The Road Ahead

Looking forward, the team wants Crowwd to be more than just a content platform. Over the next five years, they envision it as a full-stack ecosystem for retail investors where users can:

• Access high-quality, personalised insights

• Execute trades directly on the platform

• Get AI-assisted guidance based on market behaviour and user goals

• Participate in communities ranked by merit, not followers

In essence, Crowwd wants to be the bridge between financial knowledge and meaningful action, especially for the millions of investors coming online in India and beyond.

Final Thoughts

Crowwd isn’t trying to be flashy - it’s trying to be useful. And that might just be its biggest strength.

To stay updated on Crowwd’s journey, visit crowwd.io , follow them on Instagram, and connect with Ajitesh on LinkedIn.