Schenker’s experience is integral to Newchip’s mission to help new investors own a piece of startups they believe in.

Since 2011, Bloomberg News has ranked Schenker No. 1 in the world for his forecast accuracy in 19 categories. His expertise as a financial market thought leader can be seen in his role as an advisor to both public and private companies, the Fed, the ECB, the Bank of England and OPEC. This unrivaled skill, along with his professional credentials and consulting background, has prepared Schenker to pave the way for Newchip as a leader in a massively undeveloped and underserved market.

“Nearly half of the new market potential for private equity funding can’t actually afford to participate, but the market can’t grow without bringing them into the field,” said Schenker. “However, there is a lack of infrastructure in the market, creating a fragmented ecosystem of thousands of platforms inefficiently competing with each other.”

Scheduled to launch in early 2017, Newchip will change the investing landscape by consolidating all the equity investment platforms into one marketplace. Newchip’s focused approach encourages new investors to actively engage in planning for their financial futures by investing in companies that inspire them. It is expected core Newchip users will be new investors, small investors and millennials.

“Throughout every sector, millennials are the driving force of change,” said Schenker. “When it comes to investing, they are taking a different path than the generations before them, and it’s anticipated that this cause-centric generation will increase the demand for social responsibility investing - SRI - as they indicate less interest in traditional equity investments.”

While only one-third of millennials say they invest in the stock market according to a survey by Bankrate,
they are generally willing to take on higher risk and lower returns in order to support good causes through their investments. A U.S Trust study recently reported millennials are prioritizing social and environmental issues when choosing their investing strategy. Newchip’s investment marketplace addresses this issue by making investing personal and providing investors with opportunities they are passionate about.

Newchip’s leadership team also consists of founder and CEO Ryan Ràfols, and co-founder and CTO Travis Brodeen. “We are beyond thrilled to welcome Jason to the team,” said Ràfols. “Jason is a trusted leader in the financial world, and his participation in Newchip further solidifies the financial security and rewards crowdfunded companies offer investors.”

In addition to the advantage crowdfunding offers regarding a built-in base of support and brand ambassadors, data out of the UK found companies financed by equity crowdfunding have a success rate of 85 percent compared to 50 percent of startups that did not use crowdfunding. In fact, only 10 percent of crowd-financed companies have failed since 2011.

“Newchip is paving the way for new investors to gain access to opportunities previously unattainable, and I’m thrilled to be involved,” stated Schenker.