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Nithin Kamath, co-founder and CEO of the biggest stockbroking company in India, is one of the youngest self-made billionaires in India. Kamath started Zerodha as a brokering business in 2010 which has successfully transformed into a mega fintech business self-valued at a whopping 1 billion dollars! Zerodha’s incredible success and growth is due to the foresight, determination and daring nature of Nithin Kamath. A true entrepreneur and catalyst for change, Kamath has also founded Rainmatter, a fintech startup fund and incubator to contribute towards Indian’s capital markets ecosystem. In this blog, let us find out more about the inspiring man behind India’s first online discount brokerage company!
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This Blog Includes:
Early Life and Education
Born in Karnataka to U.R Kamath and Revathi in the year 1979, Kamath grew up travelling across India because of his father’s profession. The family settled in Bangalore where he completed his high school education as well as college. He studied engineering at the Bangalore Institute of Technology and has often admitted in interviews that he was never academically inclined and describes himself as a below-average school student. At age of 17, Kamath entered the world of trading by accident. His love of trading and the stock market grew as he explored the art of trading and wealth creation; Kamath was quite successful, he earned a considerable amount of money through the stock market but also lost a lot of it in the early 2000s. This setback didn’t discourage Kamath; he moonlighted at a call centre and traded stocks during the day, gradually building his capital. Kamath worked at a call centre for 4 years before his first job as a trader came along.
Personal Life
While working at a call centre to rebuild his career as a trader, Kamath met his wife, Seema Patil. The couple is married and have a son together as well. Kamath also has a younger brother, Nikhil Kamath who began his career along with his brother in 2010 after working as a trader and looking for an opportunity to revitalise the Indian system of trading and investment. After 11 years, the two brothers with their flat fee model have transformed the way Indian trading works and emerged at the top of the game!
From Reliance Money to the Zerodha Adventure!
In 2004, Kamath began working at Reliance Money as a franchisee where he worked in proprietary trading and advisory services. Kamath saved up just enough money to start his company, Zerodha with his brother Nikhil in 2010! The company operated on a unique discount model to help traders and encourage more investment in capital markets. The company offered a flat fee of Rs. 20 for every trader (whether it was big or small). This cost-effective fee not only disruptive the stock market but also allowed Zerodha to establish itself as a successful brokerage firm.
The company began with a small team of five members in a little rented office in Bangalore and now employs over 1300 employees! Zerodha is also the country’s first-ever online brokerage firm and has grown leaps and bonds with its transparency and smart-use of technology to educate and market their products. Today, Zerodha has over 5 million active users and as overtaken well-established ICICI Securities and become India’s largest retail brokerage firm.
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Achievements and Awards
Here are the most popular accolades and achievements that Nithin Kamath has won for his entrepreneurial adventure, Zerodha:
- Started India’s first online brokerage firm in 2010 to assist traders and encourage investment.
- Won Startup of the year by Economic Times in 2016
- In 2016, he was listed in the “10 businessman to watch out for 2016” by the Economic Times
- Kamath was also featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list of 2016.
- Honored as Emerging brokerage firm of the year by BSE and Dun & Bradstreet twice in 2014 and 2015
- A successful startup company valued at 3 billion dollars with no external capital or funding
This was all about the successful pioneer Nithin Kamath who is hell-bent on transforming the Indian capital markets into a success story! Follow Leverage Edu for more such inspiring reads and stay updated about the international educational world!
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