Yahoo Finance Pre-product stock trading startup raises $10m, capitalising on red hot sector
In another sign the day trading boom is here to stay, a pre-product stock trading start up has raised $10m (£7.3m) in seed funding.
Shares.io, a start up founded earlier this year, pledges to deliver "investing made social".
It has invited subscribers to join the waitlist for the Autumn launch of the Shares app in the UK, anticipating delivery across Europe in early 2022.
The app and "social-first platform" for retail investor gives no-minimum, no-fees access to 1,500 stocks.
The money came from Singular, Valar Ventures, André Mohamed, co-founder of Freetrade and others.
In a boom that has buoyed, among other things, meme stocks such as GameStop (GME) and Nokia (NOK), as well as cryptocurrencies, day trading has become something of a trend during the COVID pandemic.
In low interest rate environment, people have turned to riskier businesses to make money, sending tokens such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) and meme-inspired Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) to dizzying highs and fuelling a new generation of amateur investors.
CEO & co-founder Benjamin Chemla of Shares is a "serial entrepreneur" with a track record that includes co-founding Stuart in 2015. Six years later, Stuart is the European leader in last-mile logistics and employs more than 600 people.
The startup said it will use its recent fundraise to continue to scale at pace on a mission to "empower users with tools that open doors to first-time investors and increase financial inclusion."
The app will be set up so that investors can start conversations, network and learn from friends and experts as a community – together in a one-stop shop with all their portfolio management needs.
Read more: Plum CEO: Day trading boom was the 'shock' that got a generation interested in investing
It has both a forum and online chat function on which members can "react to the market in real time".
A curated market intelligence feed, Spotlight, will also allow members to build their financial awareness and educate themselves about investing, the biggest industry trends and offer supportive guides on tax, regulation and compliance.
Chemla says it is an “entirely new category of fintech investing platform that resonates with today’s investors.
"There is still untapped market opportunity in this high-growth fintech space and Shares is uniquely positioned as Europe’s first social and investing app to fast become a leader in the industry.”
Watch: What are the risks of investing in cryptocurrency?
