CEO declares life was better before his startup hit $1 billion valuation: ‘No one noticed us’

The founder and CEO of Raise Financial Services feels that life was better before his fintech startup hit the $1 billion valuation milestone. Pravin Jadhav, a self-confessed introvert, stated that the flood of invitations he has received in the last one month since Raise became a unicorn has been too much for him to handle.

Pravin Jadhav is the founder and CEO of Raise Financial Services and a former Paytm executive.

In early October, Raise — the parent company of stock trading platform Dhan — raised $120 million in a Series B round led by Hornbill Capital. The Mumbai-based fintech was valued at $1.2 billion after the funding round, marking its enattempt into the unicorn club.

With the firm being propelled into the spotlight, Jadhav stated he is struggling to keep up with the non‑stop barrage of social engagements. He joked that he misses the days when nobody was checking in on him.

“Life was better”

“Life was better till few weeks back when we were not valued as unicorn, no one noticed us or knew of our existence…” the co-founder and CEO of Raise wrote on X.

“Chaar din pehle koi poochta bhi nahi tha apne ko,” he continued in Hindi. “Now inbox obtains flooded with invites for meet-ups, lunches, catch-ups, seminars, podcasts, social events, private events, dinners, etc.. too much for an introvert to handle.”

His post has received over one lakh views and comments ranging from sympathetic to believedful.

“Guard your time ruthlessly now. The people reaching out rarely have your best interests in mind, just their own agfinisha,” warned one X applyr.

“The unicorn life sure flips the script! Stay true to your roots amid the chaos—your focus built Dhan’s success,” another wrote.

Raise, founded in January 2021 by Pravin Jadhav along with Alok Pandey, Jay Prakash Gupta, and Raunak Rathi, is creating a comprehensive ecosystem of technology-driven financial products. Its offerings include ScanX, a market research platform providing real-time news, screeners, and analytics for Indian equities; Upsurge, an educational platform for retail investors and traders; Filter Coffee, a media platform delivering bite-sized financial content tailored for Gen Z and millennials; and Fuzz, an AI model trained on large-scale financial datasets to provide contextual, verified insights for Indian investors and professionals.