Alum Ventures: Jama Wealth – Ram Kalyan Medury, PGP 1998

Q. How did Jama Wealth come into being? What was the idea behind it?

In 2016, I and my batch mate Manoj Trivedi (Research and Advisory Head of JamāWealth.com) came together with the goal of enriching people’s lives and helping them become financially free.

Having served our time in the financial markets, we decided to build “the most reliable and customer-friendly wealth advisory platform” powered by smart technologies. The decision to simplify wealth advisory and make it transparent using technology stemmed out of a zeal to create value to Customers that could not be found from other players in the market.

From our personal experience and that of friends, we saw that many people wanting to grow their wealth had concerns of platforms “holding” their assets, “power of attorney” and restrictions on the liquidity of their own funds. Many investors were forced to invest in physical assets with low yield.

It was clear that many advisories and management firms were not being customer-obsessed enough to cast away hidden fees, fancy offices and vested interests. While they got richer, their clients did not; while they drove pricey German cars, their clients did not.

Our vision is to be India’s most trusted and client-centric wealth advisory, helping people achieve financial independence & financial well being, grow & preserve wealth.

Q. What is the most unique offering of Jama Wealth?

We are pioneering the “Social Distancing” and “Zero-touch” approach to wealth management. This means we do not touch the client’s money or their stocks or mutual fund units.

We facilitate the best possible investment advice using technology & algorithms, seamlessly integrating the implementation of the advice, with their Demat accounts and Asset Management Companies.

The advice is based on our “Roots & Wings” philosophy. Roots aim to preserve wealth by selecting companies with low debt, consistent ROE/ROCE & promoter integrity. Wings aim to increase prosperity by identifying growing companies (sales / profit / cash-flows) that are resilient with consistent market share.

This is an end-to-end process that is clean and transparent, focused on the client’s financial well being. We do not push third party products (such as Loans, “PMS”, “AIFs” and Opaque insurance Policies) which might get us hidden fees or brokerages, but do not generate wealth for the clients; neither directly, indirectly nor through any sister concern.

The other unique aspect is that there are no constraints on clients with lock ins, exit loads. Why impose exit barriers when there is nothing to hide?

Having come up with the no indirect fee principle in any form or at any level, we do have a transparent fee based model to support our business, making the research purely unbiased and client-centric.

Q. What are the advantages of combining AI with algorithms, when it comes to wealth tech?

The first and foremost advantage (of combining AI & Algorithms with Wealth Tech) is that the entire advisory process becomes unbiased. It is not possible to peddle motivated advice, when the algorithm and data clearly do not support it.

Secondly, for a new age firm like ours, we are able to do extensive research on companies and funds in a manner which is better, faster and cheaper. We can backtest a massive number of scenarios to validate any of our investment hypotheses. This helps us respond faster to a dynamic environment and come up with timely portfolio strategies for our clients.

Q. What are the services offered by Jamā and who is your target audience?

Our services span direct equity investment advisory and mutual funds advisory. These are backed up by comprehensive financial planning (and protection, succession) that ensures key life goals are met by the appropriate investments.

Our advisory services are targeted at the affluent and aspiring-to-be-affluent, among salaried class and business owners.

We also help the mass affluent and upwardly mobile get ahead, by providing access to our technology platform.