Creandum is a leading European early-stage venture capital firm backing some of Europe's most successful tech companies including Spotify, iZettle, Depop, Klarna, KRY, Epidemic Sound and Small Giant Games. Creandum has offices in Stockholm, Berlin, London and San Francisco.

Creandum

Project A is an early-stage venture capital firm, combining financial and operational support for technology companies. In addition to $1bn in assets under management, Project A provides its portfolio companies with a wide range of operational support services. This includes more than 100 experts from key areas such as software engineering, business intelligence, marketing, and recruiting. The portfolio includes companies such as Trade Republic, sennder, KRY, Catawiki, WorldRemit, Spryker, and Voi.

Project A Ventures

Micro VC supporting outstanding technology entrepreneurs across the globe.

Discovery Ventures

Accel is an early and growth-stage venture capital firm that powers a global community of entrepreneurs. Accel backs entrepreneurs who have what it takes to build a business.  Accel’s vision for entrepreneurship and business enables it to identify and invest in the companies that will be responsible for the growth of next-generation industries. Accel-backed companies include Atlassian, Braintree, Cloudera, DJI, Dropbox, Dropcam, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, Lookout Security, MoPub, Qualtrics, Slack, Spotify, Supercell, Vox Media, and others.

Accel

Founders Fund is a venture capital firm that invests at every stage in companies building revolutionary technologies. It has been investors, founders, and early employees of prominent technology companies. It has historically invested in a wide variety of sectors, including aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, health, and consumer Internet.

Founders Fund

#ANGELS is an investment collective. In addition to investing in phenomenal companies,  their mission is to get more women on the cap tables of successful startups. As investors, they back ambitious founders pursuing bold ideas. They collectively have a portfolio of 80+ companies across a wide range of industries.

#Angels

Sequoia is a venture capital focused on energy, financial, enterprise, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups. The firm helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. It spurs them to push the boundaries of what’s possible. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on energy, financials and financial services, healthcare and healthcare services, Internet, mobile, outsourcing, and technology.

Sequoia Capital

TCV provides capital to growth-stage private and public companies in the technology industry. It also provides management teams with data-driven insights, sector expertise, access to world-class talent, and connections with category leaders.  Founded in 1995, the Silicon Valley-headquartered firm has invested more than $14 billion in over 350 growth-stage technology companies to date. Some of its most prominent portfolio company exits include Airbnb, Facebook, Netflix, Peloton, and Zillow.

Thrive Capital is a venture capital investment firm that focuses on building and investing in Internet, software, and technology-enabled companies.

Thrive Capital

H14 is an Italian family office and a qualified shareholder of Fininvest SpA that invests across several asset classes including Direct Investments in Venture and Growth Capital, Private Equity Funds, Hedge Funds, and broad Capital Markets. Its geographical scope is global, mainly focused on North America and Europe and opportunistically on Emerging Markets.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan invests and administers the pensions of active and retired teachers. It invests the pension fund's assets and administers the pensions of 284,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario. A pension plan has existed for Ontario teachers since 1917. Today, the plan's members include 173,000 teachers in elementary and secondary schools in Ontario, 111,000 pensioners, and 72,000 inactive members. The plan has one of Canada's largest payrolls with $4.2 billion in benefits paid to plan members and $2.3 billion received in total contributions from teachers and the provincial government in 2008.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan

Trade Republic

Embat creates a cloud-based financial platform that democratizes access to vital financial data. The company's software consolidates all financial information to make treasury projections, automates financial reporting, and makes financial information instantly available, allowing financial teams, managers, entrepreneurs, and shareholders of small and medium-sized businesses to gain greater control over their treasury and financial planning.

Trade Republic is a mobile-only and commission-free broker that brings the opportunity to invest easily. The company works as a broker for a new generation for a more mobile, more intuitive, faster - and permanently free of commission. Trade Republic was founded in 2015 and based in Berlin, Germany.

Trade Republic is a German securities trading bank that offers a web and mobile application for trading stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and derivatives with no minimum initial deposit or inactivity fees. Trade Republic users can trade around 7,500 stocks and 1,500 ETFs (the largest stock universe among the disruptors covered) and cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The platform is monetized through a EUR 1 commission on each trade, as well as a range of other services, including voluntary balance confirmations (EUR 25) and tax reporting (EUR 25). Its revenue sources also include payments from order flow and interest on uninvested cash in its users’ accounts. In addition to its trading offerings, Trade Republic also offers savings plans where users can invest a set amount of money into stocks or ETFs each month.

Retail investors demanding sophisticated passive investment strategies are looking for an edge.

Retail Trading Infrastructure

Trade Republic Skyrockets to 4M Customers in 5 Years

Embat

Klarna

iZettle

Samaipata

Pleo

VentureFriends

4Founders Capital

Trade Republic is a German securities trading bank that offers a web and mobile application for trading stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and derivatives with no minimum initial deposit or inactivity fees. Trade Republic users can trade around 7,500 stocks and 1,500 ETFs (the largest stock universe among the disruptors covered) and cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. The platform is monetized through a EUR 1 commission on each trade, as well as a range of other services, including voluntary balance confirmations (EUR 25) and tax reporting (EUR 25). Its revenue sources also include payments from order flow and interest on uninvested cash in its users’ accounts. In addition to its trading offerings, Trade Republic also offers savings plans where users can invest a set amount of money into stocks or ETFs each month.The platform is available in Germany, Austria, and France, with a user base of over one million members and around EUR 6 billion (approximately USD 6.8 billion) in assets under management as of November 2021.Trade Republic raised USD 900 million in a Series C funding round led by Sequoia Capital in May 2021 at a valuation of USD 5.3 billion. The company had planned to funnel the fresh capital into continuing its European expansion in Spain, Italy, Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), Ireland, and Finland.

Ellevest is a hybrid investment management platform that specifically targets women, with an algorithm that takes into account gender-specific factors such as career breaks, longer life expectancy, and income differences.Ellevest currently offers services under three categories: Ellevest Essential (at a monthly fee of USD 1), Ellevest Plus (USD 5 per month), and Ellevest Executive (USD 9 per month). All three offerings include portfolio customization, banking services (spending and savings accounts), access to human advisors, and on-demand learning for subjects such as investing, career, and money. Ellevest Plus is more costly because it handles retirement accounts for clients. Meanwhile, Ellevest Executive handles both retirement accounts and investment management for multiple goals. The company also offers private wealth management services for clients who wish to invest USD 1 million or more through the platform. A dedicated advisor will work together with clients to create investment plans to meet their goals.Ellevest reported assets under management (AUM) of USD 1.4 billion as of December 2021, growing 44% during the year.In April 2022, Ellevest raised USD 53 million in Series B <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9622?industryIds=28">funding </a>co-led by BMO and Contour Venture Partners. The company planned to use the funds to expand its product offering and provide personalized coaching.

Ellevest

ComposedPro is a digital investment advisor that handles clients’ investment accounts at their employers (such as employer-sponsored accounts) as well as private investment accounts, focusing on low cost Employer-Coordinated Portfolios. The company oversees USD 25 million in total assets over 181 customer accounts as of the company’s Q2 2020 filing. ComposedPro manages half of the company’s accounts on a discretionary basis, meaning an investment advisor has the discretion to make buy and sell decisions for a client’s account. ComposedPro also has 46 non-discretionary accounts totalling USD 7.9 million in assets. The average investment account size is USD 138,222 placed across exchangeable assets such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), equities, bonds, and options.

ComposedPro

Guideline provides automated investment management services for employer-sponsored retirement accounts. The services also include plan set-up and administration, enrollment and education, recordkeeping, compliance with Retirement Income Security Act, and reporting.As of July 2023, Guideline had assets under management (AUM) of over USD 9 billion and over 350 employees. The company stated that it is the only provider that does not charge plan participants (i.e. employees) with any fees. Guideline charges the employers with a straightforward pricing of one flat fee per participant, in contrast to the asset-based fee model predominant in the industry (i.e. fee is charged on account balances). The standard service has a base fee of USD 49 per month and an additional USD 8 per participant. The standard service includes unlimited phone/email support to both plan participants and employers. For prime service, access to a dedicated account manager is available at a higher base fee of USD 129 and an additional fee of USD 8 per participant. In addition, the company stated that it has a low mutual fund expense ratio, at 0.08%. It purchases mutual funds from Vanguard and other fund providers.Funding and financialsIn June 2021, Guideline raised USD 200 million in funding led by General Atlantic. The company intends to utilize the funding to broaden its 401(k) offerings and introduce new retirement plan solutions.

Guideline

Based in Plano, Texas, AssetBuilder is a robo-advisory company that develops investment portfolios based on the Fama/French school of thought, using low-cost active index funds. It has Dimensional Fund Advisors (the eighth largest fund company in the world as of September 2019) as its funding partner. Human advisors are available to provide investing guidance. As of April 2019, the firm’s assets under management (AUM) amounted to USD 765.9 million. The firm’s business model relies on a fee-only structure, meaning a customer solely pays AssetBuilder to create and manage investments (the company does not receive product-specific commission). The minimum investment for AssetBuilder is USD 50,000 with an asset management fee ranging from 0.24% to 0.45%; the higher the investment, the lower the fee. Though the firm does not have a setup fee, it requires a custodial cost for setting up a portfolio of USD 11.95 per trade for each recommended mutual fund. Most of the platform’s portfolios require about 11 to 14 mutual funds, costing about USD 131.45 to USD 167.30 to open an account.

AssetBuilder

Based in Canada, Smart Money Invest provides portfolio management services to individual clients, advisors, and employers (such as group saving plans for retirement). Human advisors are available to serve individual investors.The company provides financial tools to develop a long-term financial strategy by calculating net worth, setting a budget, managing investment accounts, and planning for retirement.

Smart Money Invest

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services directly to individuals solely via digital platforms.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to individuals via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provide solutions for financial advisors/asset managers to automate wealth management and administration functions.

Robo advisory startups that offer automated investment services to businesses via both digital platforms and human financial advisors.

Provides solutions for financial institutions to set up their own robo-advisory function and offer services to clients.

Startups that offer online platforms for investors to trade various securities such as stocks, ETFs, and options directly via the platform

Operates a B2B SaaS model to support financial institution in offering various investment related services

Leverages AI/ML to automate allocation and management of investment funds to cater to retail investors

Trade Republic

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