Stock investing platform, Gotrade has announced that it will be expanding its services to other parts of Southeast Asia following a successful Series A funding round. The funds will go to helping the company’s 40-person team and launch localized versions of its app to start offering its product with local deposit methods across the region.
Led by Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures, the round raised USD$15.5 million and saw the participation of international investors consisting of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) from Japan, BeeNext, Kibo Ventures. Returning investors include LocalGlobe, Social Leverage, Picus Capital and Raptor Group.
“Investing in Southeast Asia is broken. Over 600 million people can’t access quality investment products at fair prices,” said Gotrade Founder Rohit Mulani. “They are subject to mutual funds with expense ratios exceeding 5%, savings products like gold with three percent spreads and hidden fees peppered across their portfolios – not just by the incumbents but also by the companies that are meant to be the disruptors.”
“We believe that investing should be fair and users should not have to bear these predatory costs.”
Following this news, Gotrade will be launching its services in Indonesia. Gotrade Indonesia, powered by Valbury Group, will allow users to make use of the platform to invest as little as US$1 in the likes of Tesla, Apple, and Netflix on its commission-free platform. Heralding this, the startup has also announced that Valbury owner, Andrew Haryono will be recognised as a co-founder of the company.
Established by Rohit Mulani, Norman Wanto and David Grant with the aim to make investing accessible for everyone, Gotradehas partnered with Valbury Asia Futures, the Jakarta Futures Exchange, and the Futures Clearing House of Indonesia to design a derivative that gives the end users market access to US stocks.
"Andrew has been involved since the earliest days of the business in 2019 and has been instrumental in helping us achieve the success we have had so far. With the Valbury partnership and the launch of Gotrade Indonesia, we've been able to take our partnership to a new level and everyone felt it was time to recognise him for the pivotal role he's played in the company's past as well as the role he will continue play in the company's future," said Mulani.