UAE-based InvestSky has raised US$3.4 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Saudi venture capital firm Emkan Capital with participation from other investors.
Established in 2021, InvestSky is a social investing platform tailored for the new generation of investors in the Middle East with the aim of making stock trading inclusive, intuitive and informed.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, Nitish Mittal, CEO and co-founder of InvestSky, said that the company targets non-professional investors to solve their investment needs with a community-driven approach.
“Particularly across Gulf Cooperation Council countries the space is ripe for disruption, and we want to help a new era of investors to put their money to work,” Mittal told Arab News.
The platform allows users to buy fractional stocks starting from $1 on a commission-free basis and provides a social community for users to collaborate.
“We offer a freemium subscription-based model, where the premium plan comes with advanced features that help users make informed decisions,” Mittal explained.
He also added that users will be able to use the service for free which will encourage them to switch to the subscription after recognizing the value provided by the app.
“We want to take away the hurdles and perceived difficulties of investing and our ambition is to make investing seamless, intuitive and informed,” Mittal said.
He added: “We’re basing our business model on our deep understanding of what the new era of investors want which includes convenience, simplicity, collaboration and ease of use.”
Mittal aims to expand the company to the entire GCC region while enhancing the platform’s features and system to help users get access to the tools and information they need.
“When you bring people together you can create incredible opportunities for people to learn from one another and simultaneously we also see this as an opportunity for us to learn from our community,” he added.
Moreover, the startup managed to receive a category 4 license with retail endorsement from the Dubai Financial Services Authority.
The company also provides market intelligence data which will further empower investors to make more decisions aligned with Shariah compliance or social and environmental impacts.
“We intend to offer an empowering platform that helps educate our users to make sound investment decisions powered by socially connected tools that will help build a collaborative community in the region,” Mittal said.
The company also managed to get other Saudi investors on board including S3 Ventures, Al-Romazian Family Office and Mishal Al-Mishari, the deputy CEO of Saudi food delivery app Jahez.
Co-founder of InvestSky, Turki Al-Shaikh, stated that the number of non-professional investors using fintech solutions grew by more than 180 percent over the past year in Saudi Arabia alone.
“Beyond this, we see a big gap in financial inclusion, with female non-professional investors making up less than 27 percent of traders. We believe that educating our users is key to building a sustainable market by improving both financial literacy and inclusion,” Al-Shaikh explained.
Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2236636/business-economy
