Zerodha’s Next Big Bet: Nikhil Kamath Is Quietly Building India’s BlackRock for Gen Z

Zerodha revolutionized retail investing in India. But while the broking business remains wildly profitable, Nikhil Kamath isn’t resting on low-cost trades and weekend podcasts. Instead, he’s laying the foundation for something far more ambitious — India’s first truly Gen Z-focused asset management empire.

And he’s doing it with a blend of intuition, contrarianism, and ultra-modern branding that’s already shaking up how young India thinks about wealth.

It started with True Beacon, a Category III AIF for ultra-HNIs, but that was just phase one. The real play is Wint Wealth, Ditto Insurance, and now Gruhas — all early-stage platforms backed or co-founded by Kamath that focus on investment products outside traditional mutual funds. The idea? To build a decentralized, modern-day BlackRock — but one that feels like Spotify for money, not a bank brochure.

Nikhil knows something most legacy firms are still in denial about: Gen Z doesn’t trust traditional finance. They don’t want old-school ULIPs, they’re bored by SIPs, and they can sniff a boring, outdated product from a mile away. What they want is transparency, control, and bite-sized access. Kamath is quietly putting that puzzle together — one product at a time.

Recently, sources close to Gruhas revealed that Kamath is working on a platform where users can invest in a hybrid basket of fractional real estate, government bonds, startup equity, and AI-curated ETFs — all from a single app, with a UX that looks like Duolingo meets CoinDCX.

And it’s not just about investing.

Kamath is doubling down on financial literacy as a moat. His podcast “WTF” is just the tip of the iceberg. Wealnare insiders discovered that a new financial content studio — backed by Gruhas and Kamath’s personal fund — is being launched in Bengaluru. It’ll blend infotainment with product integration, targeting tier-2 & tier-3 city audiences who skipped the mutual fund ads but are hungry for credible knowledge.

But perhaps Kamath’s boldest move is cultural. While traditional firms talk down to their users, Kamath talks with them. From memes to reels to AMA-style YouTube drops, he’s becoming the cool elder brother of Indian finance — not the suit-and-tie uncle. And that relatability might just be his biggest asset.

Of course, there are risks. Regulatory pushback on new financial products, over-dependence on personality branding, and competition from fintech giants like Groww, Paytm Money, and even global players like Robinhood (if they enter India) could shake the path.

But if Nikhil Kamath’s track record is anything to go by, don’t bet against him. Zerodha didn’t raise a single rupee of VC money and became a unicorn. His next creation might just redefine how an entire generation builds wealth — not with a bang, but with an app notification that reads:💬 “You just earned ₹36.20 while scrolling. Want to see how?”

This isn’t just a startup.

It’s a philosophy of wealth reimagined.