Nikhil Kamath | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 5, 1986 Bangalore, Karnataka |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur and YouTuber |
| Organization(s) | Zerodha, True Beacon and Gruhas |
| Website | https://zerodha.com/ |
Nikhil Kamath (born September 5, 1986, in Udupi, Karnataka) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Zerodha, a retail stockbroker, and True Beacon, an asset management company.[1][2][3] Kamath is a part of the 2023 Forbes billionaires list.[4][5]
Kamath was born on September 5, 1986, in Udupi, Karnataka, India. Kamath dropped out of school after 10th grade and he has no formal degree.[1][6][7][8]
Kamath started his career with a job at a call center while also engaging in equity trading on the side.[9][10][11] In 2006, Kamath became a sub-broker and started his brokerage firm with his brother Nithin Kamath titled Kamath & Associates to manage high-net-worth individual portfolios in the public markets.[1]
In 2010, Kamath co-founded Zerodha along with his brother Nithin Kamath.[12][13] Zerodha provides brokerage services for dealing in stocks, currencies, and commodities.[14][15] Kamath introduced a discount brokerage model with Zerodha which reduces the commission charged for transactions, enabling the masses to invest.[16][17]
Kamath also co-founded True Beacon In 2020, an asset management company that helps ultra-high-net individuals invest in the Indian markets via privately pooled investment vehicles.[18][3][19][20]
In 2021, Kamath co-founded Gruhas, a real estate investments and prop tech company, along with Abhijeet Pai. Gruhas invests in incubators, startups, and special situations through its proptech-focused fund.[21][22]
In March 2023 Kamath started hosting “WTF is? podcast, as of April 2024 Kamath hosted Tanmay Bhat, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Suniel Shetty, Ritesh Agarwal, Ronnie Screwvala and more public figures and entrepreneurs over the year.[23]
In June 2023, He committed to donating 50% of his wealth to charitable causes like climate change, education, and health care by signing The Giving Pledge.[24]
In June 2021, Kamath participated in an online charity chess match against five-time world chess champion, Viswanathan Anand to raise funds for those suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic.[25][26][27] During the event, Kamath cheated against Anand by using the assistance of chess analysts and engines. Kamath later apologized, calling his behavior 'quite silly'.[28][29][30] Following the match, Chess.com, the virtual platform that was used to play the charity game, decided to ban his account.[31] However, Chess.com restored his account within 24 hours with the statement - "Chess.com has no reason to uphold anything given its rules and guidelines toward unrated games and exhibition events".[32]
