Matador, a social investing platform bidding to make the stock market more approachable to young Americans, has raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by VC GreyCroft.
Launched last year, the Matador app allows users to see what their friends are investing in and then lets them buy and sell all US listed stocks and ETFs, commission free. People can also view the most owned stock amongst their friends, and the most transacted stocks across the entire community.
The firm is stressing its social side as it enters an increasingly crowded field of tech upstarts disrupting the retail investing model.
Market leader RobinHood now has more than five million customers for its free trading app, giving it a valuation north of $5 billion. And Wall Street is following suite, with JP Morgan Chase recently unveiling its own You Invest app, which lets its millions of customers make free trades.
Jannick Malling, CEO, Matador, says: "Investing in the stock market remains one of the best ways to grow wealth, but you shouldn’t have to do it alone. That’s what we’re going to change."
Greycroft has experience in backing winners in the fintech field as an investor in micro-investing app Acorns as well as P2P payments giant Venmo.
Says Greycroft partner Ian Sigalow: "Matador is solving a common problem - most young people don’t know where to start when it comes to buying stocks. Matador solved this problem by allowing investors to watch what stocks their friends are buying and then share comments, which makes them more comfortable venturing into the market."