Stash (company)

Stash
Private
Industry Financial technology
Founded February 2015
Founders Brandon Krieg (CEO)
Ed Robinson (president)
David Ronick
Headquarters New York, NY
Products Stash
Stash for Business
Website www.stashinvest.com

Stash is an American financial technology company offering a mobile app with micro-investing services. It aims to simplify investing and make it more accessible.

History

Stash was founded in February 2015 by Brandon Krieg, David Ronick and Ed Robinson.[1][2][3] Krieg and Robinson had previously worked together at Macquarie Group, an investment banking firm.[2][4] Stash was launched as an iOS app in October 2015,[2] and was made available on Android in March 2016.[3][5] Within a year of its launch, Stash had signed up 215,000 users.[6] Through July 2017, the app had approximately 850,000 users.[7] As of December 2016, users have invested over $25 million through the app.[8]

Product

The app is geared toward first-time or inexperienced investors who want to invest in small increments.[8][9][10] It aims to simplify the investment process and make it more accessible, while teaching users about finance and investing through a section on the app and website called Learn.[6][9]

The minimum investment is $5.[10] The app does not charge commissions on buying and selling investments or transferring money in and out of accounts.[8] Users are charged $1 per month or 0.25% of assets per year for accounts with balances of $5,000 or more.[10] After filling out a survey, customers are offered personalized investment recommendations based on their interests, investment goals and risk tolerance.[4][10] On the app, users can buy, sell and monitor investment funds.[11] Users can purchase fractional shares in $5 increments of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on a specific cause or industry, in a conservative, moderate or aggressive approach, with the stocks making up the funds available for the user to view.[10][11] The app has over 30 investment themes for the funds it offers, organized by industry and cause, such as funds in support of clean energy, tech companies or following established investors.[3][12][13]

Funding

After raising $1.5 million from angel investors in August 2015,[5] the company raised $3 million in a February 2016 seed money round.[3] In August 2016, the company raised $9.25 million in Series A funding led by Goodwater Capital,[9] and in December 2016 announced that it had raised an additional $25 million in Series B funding, from investors include Valar Ventures, Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital and Entrée Capital.[8] In July 2017, the company raised another $40 million in Series C funding, led by Coatue Management, along with existing investors Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Valar Ventures.[7][14]

References

  1. ↑ Ainsley Harris, "Meet The Startups Helping Broke-Ass Millennials Invest Their Couch Pennies," Fast Company, January 28, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Kathleen Elkins, "Wall Street vets left 6-figure jobs to launch an app that makes investing easy," CNBC, October 21, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Nathan McAlone, "Stash is an app that says millennials want to invest based on 'values,' and it's now available on iOS and Android," Business Insider, March 31, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Zack Friedman, "How To Invest With Just $5," Forbes, February 2, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Joao-Pierre S. Ruth, "Stash App Brings $5 Investments, and Advice, to Newcomers to Trading," Xconomy, October 14, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ben Steverman, "Is It Safe to Get Excited About Investing Again?" Bloomberg Businessweek, October 14, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Sarah Perez, "Stash raises $40 million Series C to make investing more approachable," TechCrunch, July 13, 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Sarah Perez, "Micro-investing app Stash raises $25 million Series B," TechCrunch, December 14, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Heather Long, "The investing app military families love," CNNMoney, August 19, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Jonnelle Marte, "How to start investing if you have $100 or less," Washington Post, August 11, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Jill Duffy, "Stash Invest (for iPhone)," PC Magazine, January 12, 2016.
  12. ↑ Ky Trang Ho, "Smartphone App Hopes To Solve The Looming Retirement Crisis," Forbes, March 25, 2017.
  13. ↑ Hayley Tsukayama, "5 apps to help grads start saving and investing," The Oklahoman, May 8, 2017.
  14. ↑ Anthony Noto, "Narrowing the financial literacy gap, Stash secures $40M in funding," New York Business Journal, July 13, 2017.
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