Mochatrade Raises $5.56M to Offer US Stock Perpetuals to Indian Traders

CoinFund has led a seed round in Mochatrade, a startup that lets Indian users trade perpetual futures tied to US stocks, the company said Monday. Coinbase Ventures and Nicky Montana, general partner at Zero Knowledge Ventures, also participated.

Total funding stands at $5.56 million, according to co-founder and chief product officer Chetan Manda. Other reporting puts the figure at about $6 million. The total includes a $690,000 pre-seed round backed by Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund. Y Combinator's $500,000 arrived earlier this month, entirely in USDC on Base, Manda said.

Mochatrade said in May that it had raised a pre-seed round without disclosing the amount. The seed round closed in July, per Manda. The money came through post-money SAFEs (simple agreements for future equity), so there is no valuation to share, he said.

How the product works

Users fund accounts in rupees through UPI, India's instant payments system, and go long or short with leverage on stocks such as Nvidia, Tesla and Apple. They do not own the shares and need no US brokerage account.

"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,"

Chetan Manda, co-founder and CPO, Mochatrade

The platform offers leverage of up to 50x on more than 50 US stocks, plus commodities, indices and select crypto assets. It also lists pre-IPO exposure to names such as SpaceX and Anthropic. Markets run on Hyperliquid, 24/7, with real-time settlement.

The platform is in beta with more than 20,000 people on its waitlist. Public launch is expected in the coming weeks.

Regulatory footing and competition

Mochatrade operates in India through ALSD Technologies Private Limited, which holds FIU-IND registration VA00049752, Manda said. The company is registered as a Virtual Digital Asset Service Provider, and its contracts are structured as crypto-based derivatives, not securities trades. The rupee funding route depends on that classification.

Leverage carries its own risk. At 50x, a 2% move against a fully levered position can wipe it out.

Manda acknowledged that similar products already exist on Hyperliquid and on Indian exchanges including CoinDCX, Delta and CoinSwitch. He argued they are not built for Indian equity traders.

Team and plans

Mochatrade earns fees on trades and has no plans to launch a token "as of now." Proceeds will go to trading technology and customer growth. Planned additions are US stock options, more assets and social trading, subject to laws and regulatory approvals.

CEO Utkarsh Sinha, CPO Manda and CTO Parth Maheshwari met at IIT, started building in April 2026 and joined Y Combinator's Spring 2026 batch. Sinha was previously co-founder and CEO of Martian Wallet, which passed 2 million installs and was acquired last year by Pontem Network.

The company has 11 full-time employees split between New York and Bangalore. The three founders make up the board.