Y Combinator-backed Mochatrade raises $5.5 million to offer US stock perpetuals to Indian traders

Mochatrade, a trading platform focused on Indian users, has raised $5.56 million in total funding to offer perpetual futures tied to U.S. stock prices.

CoinFund led the seed funding, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Nicky Montana, general partner at Zero Knowledge Ventures, Mochatrade said Monday. Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund backed the pre-seed round worth $690,000, with Y Combinator's $500,000 investment arriving earlier this month entirely in USDC stablecoin on Base, Mochatrade co-founder and chief product officer Chetan Manda told The Block.

Mochatrade said in May it raised the pre-seed round without mentioning the dollar amount at the time. As for the seed round, it closed in July, said Manda.

The funding was raised through post-money simple agreements for future equity, or SAFEs, Manda said, noting that there is no valuation to share as the funding was not a priced equity round.

Trading U.S. stock prices in rupees

Mochatrade lets Indian users fund accounts through the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, and trade contracts tied to companies such as Nvidia, Tesla and Apple. Users can bet on U.S. stock prices rising or falling with leverage, without owning the shares or needing a U.S. brokerage account, Manda said.

He noted that similar products are already available on Hyperliquid and Indian crypto exchanges including CoinDCX, Delta and CoinSwitch.

However, "neither is built for an Indian equity trader who wants to trade U.S. stocks: the offshore venues run on dollar stablecoin balances, and the Indian exchanges do not focus their marketing and positioning on U.S. equities; they focus on crypto. Existing U.S.-stock apps for Indian users are built for buying and holding shares. (Eg: INDmoney, VestedFinance)," he claimed.

"Mochatrade is built for U.S. stock token trading: users fund in rupees through UPI, go long or short on U.S. stock prices with leverage, and withdraw in rupees," Manda added.

Mochatrade operates in India through ALSD Technologies Private Limited, which holds its FIU-IND registration under reference number VA00049752, according to Manda.

The platform is in beta, with early access rolling out and more than 20,000 people on its waitlist, Manda said, adding that the public launch is expected in the coming weeks.

Options and more products planned

Mochatrade earns fees on trades made through the platform. It has no plans to launch a token "as of now," Manda said.

The funding will go toward trading technology and customer growth. The team also plans to add U.S. stock options, more assets, and social trading features, subject to applicable laws and regulatory approvals, Manda said.

Manda and his co-founders, CEO Utkarsh Sinha and CTO Parth Maheshwari, started building Mochatrade in April 2026 and joined Y Combinator's Spring 2026 batch. The three met at IIT and have been friends for 10 years, according to the startup.

Sinha was previously co-founder and CEO of Martian Wallet, which reached more than 2 million installs across over 50 countries before being acquired last year by Pontem Network, a product studio for Move-based blockchains, Mochatrade said. Manda previously served as director of product management at Sprinklr, a customer experience software company, while Maheshwari worked at Adobe and Navi, according to their LinkedIn profiles.

Mochatrade has 11 full-time employees, with its core team split between New York and Bangalore. It plans to expand its operations, engineering, and growth teams over time, Manda said. The board consists of the three founders, he added.

The Funding newsletter:  Stay on top of the latest crypto VC funding and M&A deals, news, and trends with my free bi-monthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign up here!