Freetrade

Freetrade is a UK-based online retail brokerage that offers commission-free investment across various asset classes listed on US, UK, Germany and Finland exchanges including stocks, ETFs, SPACs, and investment trusts. Fractional shares are also available to users purchasing US equities. Freetrade operates its in-house trading platform “Invest by Freetrade” to execute trades, rather than relying on third-party platforms, which the company claims allow faster and cheaper execution of trades.

Freetrade has no minimum deposit requirements and has no inactivity or transfer fees. The platform is monetized on a freemium basis, with its General Investment Account offered for free and its premium account, Freetrade Plus, at GBP 9.99 per month. Freetrade Plus offers a larger range of securities and 3% interest on cash (up to a maximum deposit of GBP 4,000), at GBP 9.99 per month. A fee of 0.45% is also charged on the spot rate when trading overseas shares.

In October 2021, Freetrade partnered with neobank Monzo to offer three free shares worth GBP 3–200 to Monzo’s Plus and Premium customers. The partnership is in line with Freetrade’s mission to make investing more accessible to retail clients.

As of May 2022, Freetrade had over 1.3 million users, GBP 3.7 billion+ year-to-date (YTD) trading volume, and assets under management that exceed USD 1 billion. The company reported revenue of GBP 15.1 million in 2021, a 6x growth from the previous year. The company planned to expand into other European countries in 2022, beginning with Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands. The waitlist was open for applications in France, Germany, Netherlands and Ireland as of June 2022. The company has also announced plans to expand to Australia.

In May 2022, Freetrade raised GBP 30 million (~USD 37.5 million) through a convertible loan note. The company planned to use the fresh capital to support product development and expand into new markets across Europe. Freetrade was valued at GBP 650 million (~USD 813 million) in November 2021.