London-based investing app Invstr has raised $20 million in a Series A round and sparked its competition with competitor Robinhood, as reported by Ann Azevedo on TechCrunch. [invstr 1m 20m series azevedotechcrunch]
Key Takes:
- Invstr raised $20 million in funding and has 1 million downloads
- The app focuses on financial education and allows users to paper-trade before investing real money
- Invstr offers features like an “Invstr Score” and a virtual $1 million portfolio
- Invstr plans to offer banking services and trading, create new tools for brokers, analytics, and a portfolio builder
- Founder sees a massive opportunity in self-directed investing and aims to provide younger generations with an autonomous approach to banking and finance
On March 21, 2021, and originally reported by Mary Ann Azevedo on TechCrunch, Invstr announced the launch of its new features and also revealed that it had raised $20 million in funding through a “convertible offering”.
This was in addition to the $20 million it had previously raised from two seed rounds from investors including Ventura Capital, Finberg, Jari Ovaskainen, a European angel investor, and Rick Haythornthwaite, a former global chairman of Mastercard.
Invstr Financial Profile
| Announcement Date | Investment Round | No. of Investors | Lead Investors | Capital Raised |
| March 17, 2021 | Series A – Invstr | – | – | $20 Million |
| March 4, 2021 | Seed Round | 2 | Finberg, Ventura Capital | $10 Million |
January 1, 2021 | Seed Round | 2 | Jari Ovaskainen, Rick Haythornthwaite | $10 Million |
The investing market is seeing intense competition as many apps are being launched and providing good services. However, financial education still needs to be solved as most people end up losing their money. [invstr 1m 20m series azevedotechcrunch]
Invstr, a London-based financial education platform, and investing app, is taking a different approach. The recent funding of $20 million will now challenge its direct competition Robinhoon in the race for fintech dominance.
As Invstr not only enables masses to make an account and start investing, its primary focus has been teaching its users how to invest. This factor alone puts Invstr way ahead of Robinhood. Additionally, Robinhood had been dominating the market, but that app lacked financial education, and Invtsr is solving just the problem.
As Invstr successfully raises $20 million in funding, the fintech app will now be offering banking services and trading to give tough time to the competitors. Not only that but the app also allows you to manage a virtual $1 million portfolio so that you can paper-trade before investing your real money. This helps traders get familiar with trading and investing so that when they invest their real, hard-earned money, they don’t lose it to silly mistakes or errors.
Invstr also lets people buy and sell stocks without paying extra fees and use a digital bank to manage their investments. Subscribers can access extra features like an “Invstr Score” which tells them how well they are doing and gives them tips to improve. More than 1 million people worldwide have downloaded the app now.
Founder and CEO of Invstr, Kerim Derhalli, says the company intended to move in this direction from day one. [invstr 1m 20m series azevedotechcrunch]
“I think the most powerful trend in the U.S. is self-directed investing…Younger generations have grown up in an app world and they expect to be autonomous and do things for themselves. Many distrust the banking system, and they don’t want to follow in their parent’s footsteps when it comes to banking and finance. We think this is a massive opportunity,” stated Derhalli as he talked on TechCrunch.
Kerim Derhalli started the company because he saw that people who lack knowledge and confidence often don’t invest. Before founding Invstr, he worked for big banks like Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and JPMorgan.
With the fresh funding in hand, Invstr is now partnering with Apex Clearing for investment services and Vast Bank for digital banking services. They use technology from Okta to protect user data. Invstr plans to use the new funding to create new tools for brokers, analytics, and a portfolio builder. The company has offices in Istanbul and New York. [invstr 1m 20m series azevedotechcrunch]
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