Fintech startup Stash has announced the completion of a new $3 million fundraising round involving a handful of new investors, as well as additional contributions from previous investors. The new round of seed funding was led by Goodwater Capital, which specializes in early-stage consumer technology companies. Other investors include Valar Ventures and Entrée Capital.
Benzinga had the chance to speak with Stash CEO and co-founder David Ronick about what the new round of funding means for the company and what big plans Stash has for the future.
According to Ronick, the $3 million will have a major impact on the investment app’s future, not only in terms of capital, but in terms of reputation.
“We’re doing whatever we can to build trust and credibility, so it’s important for us to have solid institutional investors behind us to show our customers and potential employees and business partners. It’s also important to have expertise around the table in consumer mobile and in FinTech and also, of course, to have the capital to help us accelerate growth,” Ronick told Benzinga.
As far as immediate goals, he explained that Stash is anticipating a major market expansion in 2016.
“One of the things that’s held us back is that we were only on the iTunes platform, but next month we will roll-out on Android, so that could open up Stash to a whole new group of people,” Ronick explained.
He added that the new funding will also help Stash continue to invest in improving the user experience and expanding the app’s investment advice and support content.
Stash has shown impressive growth numbers in a crowded market since its October 2015 launch, and Ronick attributes Stash’s early success to its balanced approach to investing advice. Stash provides enough guidance so as not to leave customers in the dark while also encouraging clients to follow their own investment intuition and beliefs.
“There’s robo-advisors, which can be great for people who don’t really want to become investors or think or learn about how to manage their money,” Ronick told Benzinga. “That’s not what we’re after. We want to empower people to take control of their own finances and investments.”
Stash’s app is aimed at making investing easy for inexperienced Millennial investors. Stash investors can start investing for as little as $5 by buying fractional shares of Stash’s select themed ETFs such as “Internet Titans” (First Trust DJ Internet Index Fund (ETF) FDN and “Clean and Green” (iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index Fd ICLN). Stash doesn’t charge commission on trades, instead charging subscribers a flat $1 per month fee for accounts under $5,000 and 0.25% per year for balances greater than $5,000.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.
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