Freetrade, a platform designed to let users invest in stock markets around the world, has successfully secured its initial £300,000 funding target and is now nearing £560,000 through its second equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. Freetrade describes itself as a mobile app that’s designed to let users invest in stock markets around the world with zero commissions or fees. The company’s team revealed:
“We started Freetrade to make investing in the stock market easy and affordable. In our opinion, stockbrokers in the UK don’t serve the next generation of investors. Commissions are expensive, minimums are high and it’s complicated to start investing. A 2016 survey showed 46% of Britons would like to invest in equity shares, but don’t know how. Freetrade strives to be different and mobile-first; say goodbye to jargon, complex charts, and account opening forms.”
The company secured £169,980 through its first Crowdcube campaign last year. Following the closing of the initiative, Freetrade was selected to join Octopus Labs’ fintech accelerating program. As previously reported, the twelve-week accelerator program, which was launched last year, saw Octopus support five startups, each developing fintech products for financial advisers and their clients. Speaking about its success since the first Crowdcube campaign, Freetrade stated:
“Since our Crowdcube SEIS raise in July 2016 (170% overfunded in 12 days), we have obtained FCA regulatory cover as an appointed representative, set up our capital market service providers and developed our first product for beta release. We won Apps World London, have been backed by Octopus in their accelerator and without any ad spend, we’ve attracted over 4,500 members to our waiting list.”
Funds from the latest campaign will be used to support Freetrade’s first year of operations. It is set to close at the end of March.
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