Mochatrade, an early-stage fintech startup, has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to build a platform that gives Indian retail traders exposure to the price movements of US stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla, without opening an overseas brokerage account.
The round, reported on 27 October, was led by CoinFund, a crypto-focused venture firm, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Nicky Montana, general partner at Zero Knowledge Ventures. Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund backed the company's earlier pre-seed round.
The company plans to use the funds to strengthen its trading engine and risk-management systems, and to expand its reach among active retail traders in India.
How the Product Works
Mochatrade offers perpetual futures contracts linked to the prices of US stocks. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual contracts have no fixed expiry date, and traders can take long positions, betting that prices will rise, or short positions, betting they will fall. Users do not own the underlying shares.
Accounts are funded using UPI, India's instant payments system, and margins and profits or losses are displayed in rupees. The platform earns revenue through trading fees.
Trading on the platform is leveraged, which means users can control positions larger than their deposits. Leverage magnifies both gains and losses, and traders can lose money quickly if markets move against them. The product is currently in beta.
The company plans to add contracts linked to select pre-IPO companies, options on US stocks and social trading features, subject to applicable laws and regulatory approvals.
The Founders
Mochatrade was founded in 2026 by three graduates of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Utkarsh Sinha, co-founder and chief executive, previously built and scaled Martian Wallet, a crypto wallet that was acquired. Chetan Manda, co-founder and chief product officer, was previously a director of product at Sprinklr. Parth Maheshwari, the chief technology officer, worked on Photoshop on the web at Adobe and led payments and credit infrastructure at Navi.
The Appeal of US Stocks
Interest among Indian investors in US equities has grown significantly. Technology giants such as Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Tesla have delivered strong returns in recent years, and many younger Indian investors want exposure to companies that dominate global technology.
Indian residents can invest overseas under the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which allows individuals to remit up to $250,000 a year abroad. Several platforms, including INDmoney, Vested and others, offer access to US stocks through partnerships with American brokers.
But the process involves opening an overseas account, remitting money in dollars and paying tax collected at source on remittances above certain thresholds. Mochatrade's model is designed to offer price exposure without those steps, using derivatives rather than direct share ownership.
Crypto-Style Products Meet Traditional Assets
Perpetual futures were popularised by cryptocurrency exchanges, where they have become the most heavily traded products. Platforms have increasingly applied the same structure to traditional assets, offering perpetual contracts on stocks, commodities and indices.
The involvement of CoinFund and Coinbase Ventures reflects this convergence. Crypto investors see an opportunity to bring the trading infrastructure developed for digital assets to a wider range of markets, while traditional finance and crypto become more intertwined.
The Regulatory Question
The model raises significant regulatory questions in India. The Securities and Exchange Board of India regulates securities and derivatives trading, while the Reserve Bank of India oversees foreign exchange and overseas investment rules. Derivatives linked to foreign securities, offered to Indian residents and settled in rupees, could fall under scrutiny from both regulators.
SEBI has also grown increasingly concerned about retail participation in derivatives. Its studies have found that the vast majority of individual traders in India's equity futures and options market lose money, and the regulator has introduced measures to curb speculative trading, including higher contract sizes and restrictions on weekly expiries.
Mochatrade has said that some planned products are subject to laws and regulatory approvals, and its ability to grow will depend on how regulators view its offering. Companies operating in grey areas of financial regulation can face sudden changes in rules that affect their business models.
Investor Protection Concerns
Leveraged derivatives products carry high risks, particularly for inexperienced traders. Consumer protection advocates have warned about platforms that make trading feel like a game, encouraging frequent, high-risk bets. Clear risk disclosures, appropriate leverage limits and robust risk management will be important for any platform offering such products to retail users.
A Growing Global Trend
Platforms offering tokenised or synthetic exposure to US stocks have proliferated globally. Crypto exchanges and fintech startups have launched products that track the prices of popular American companies, targeting users in emerging markets who face barriers to accessing US brokerage accounts. Some offer tokenised shares backed by actual holdings, while others, like Mochatrade, use derivatives that only track price movements.
Regulators in several jurisdictions have scrutinised such products, raising concerns about investor protection, transparency and whether they effectively offer securities without appropriate licences. The approach regulators take in India will be closely watched by other startups considering similar models. For Mochatrade, building robust compliance capabilities and engaging constructively with regulators may prove as important as product development in determining whether it can scale sustainably in one of the world's most active retail trading markets.
The founding team's experience spans crypto infrastructure, enterprise software and consumer lending, a combination that reflects the hybrid nature of the product. Building a trading platform requires reliable matching engines, real-time risk management and robust payment integrations, as well as user interfaces simple enough for retail traders. The team's prior work at Martian Wallet, Sprinklr, Adobe and Navi gives it relevant experience, but operating a leveraged trading venue at scale is a demanding undertaking, particularly during periods of extreme market volatility when risk systems are tested most severely.
What Comes Next
With $5.5 million in seed funding, Mochatrade will work to build out its platform, manage risk and grow its user base. Its success will depend on product quality, user trust and, critically, regulatory clarity.
The company's emergence highlights the appetite among Indian traders for global markets and the creativity of fintech entrepreneurs in finding ways to meet it. Whether regulators see its model as innovation or as a risk to retail investors may determine its future.
