BENGALURU: Fintech startup Balance has raised Rs 1.5 crore from discount broking firm Zerodha , which has invested through its Rainmatter fund . Balance is set to launch an app designed to help individuals make smart savings and invest in low-risk mutual funds.Balance CEO Ankit Kumar said the funds will be used mainly to expand the team from seven members at present, especially to hire designers and developers. Retail participation in the capital market is much lower in India than in developed economies, said Zerodha CEONithin Kamath.“Before people start investing, they need to start saving, and Balance focuses on helping people save in low-risk instruments. Balance’s superior user experience is also its core strength,” he said.Kumar said the app is designed to understand spending patterns of individuals and use its proprietary spend analysis engine to suggest saving methods. It also allows individuals to invest in low-risk debt mutual funds with no lock-in or exit load and get returns of up to 8.7 per cent.Additionally, he said, the app offers a tax saver goal which automates ELSS saving directly into tax-saving mutual funds by asset management companies such as ICICI Prudential.The app, which will be launched this week, will connect to the trading accounts of Zerodha’s Kite trading platform, thus giving it access to 2.8 lakh users. “Through Rainmatter, we give our startups an initial audience to validate their idea,” Kamath said.This is the seventh investment for Rainmatter, which usually invests between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 3 crore. It has earlier invested in startups such as e-signing platform Digio and analytics software startup TradeLabs.Rainmatter’s total corpus is about Rs 35 crore, of which Rs 15 crore has already been invested, Kamath said. The personal finance management and investment technology sector has seen several startups emerge in recent years, including Fisdom Walnut and 5nance