Digital platform
Belong
GIFT City-native NRI investing platform (ex-Goalwise founders): USD FDs, direct GIFT City MFs and GIFT Nifty futures, UAE-first.
Dedicated NRI team
Yes
Strategy tenure
since 2024
India onshore arc
—
Hubs
GIFT City, Dubai
Belong is the GIFT City-native pure-play among the NRI fintechs. Founded in 2024 by an ex-Goalwise team (Ankur Choudhary, Ayush Singh, Sai Sankar M, Savitri Bobde), it raised a $5M seed led by Elevation Capital in July 2025. Rather than lead with remittance, it wedges in through the UAE with USD fixed deposits placed with Indian banks operating in GIFT City, and has stacked its own payment-services-provider and broker-dealer licences at GIFT City to add direct mutual funds and GIFT Nifty futures. It reports $15M+ AUM across 55,000+ customers (self-reported on its own site, Aug 2026).
Why it matters
Belong is the GIFT City-native pure-play: rather than remittance-first, it enters through the UAE with USD fixed deposits and has stacked its own PSP and broker-dealer licences at GIFT City to add direct mutual funds and GIFT Nifty futures. That self-owned regulatory footprint — plus $15M+ AUM across 55,000+ self-reported customers — puts it in more direct competition with the offshore banks' GIFT City distribution than with the remittance apps.
By the numbers
The journey
Full GIFT City NRI product suite live: USD FDs, direct MFs, GIFT Nifty futures
Belong's own site shows a live product suite for NRIs: USD Fixed Deposits, direct GIFT City mutual funds (from USD 500 minimum), GIFT Nifty Futures (marketed as zero STT/GST and zero capital gains tax), Alternative Investment Funds and NRI tax filing, under PSP licence IFSC/PSP/2025-26/003 and broker licence CMI2025BDK0829.
$5M seed led by Elevation Capital; UAE-first USD fixed deposits via GIFT City
Belong raised $5M (about INR 42.9 Cr) led by Elevation Capital, with Relentless Ventures and angels including Urban Company cofounders, Zomato's CFO and Mamaearth's CEO. Its launch product is a USD fixed-deposit placed with Indian banks operating in GIFT City, starting with NRIs in the UAE. It holds a payment-services-provider (PSP) licence and a broker-dealer licence via GIFT City, with a roadmap of mutual funds, Indian and US equities, insurance and NRI cards, expanding to the GCC, UK and US.
Founded by an ex-Goalwise team
Belong was founded in 2024 by Ankur Choudhary, Ayush Singh, Sai Sankar M and Savitri Bobde. Choudhary and Bobde, with Swapnil Bhaskar, earlier cofounded the investment-advisory platform Goalwise.
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