'Be your own hedge fund': Investment startup Stake raises $3.5m

Investment platform Stake will continue to challenge traditional banks and brokers on investing costs after closing a $3.5 million funding round to expand its base.

The funding injection comes just a few short years after co-founder Matt Leibowitz decided to build a company that would give experienced Australian investors an opportunity to invest directly in some of the world’s largest companies no matter how the US share market is performing.

“You can make money if the market is going up, down or sideways,” he said.

The company’s over-subscribed funding round includes family and friends, Kenneth Hodgson and Leigh McPherson from private company Ellemby, as well as Brazilian fintech founder Sergio Kulikovsky, who will take up a position as chairman.

Co-founders Mr Leibowitz and Dan Silver said they’ve built a business that they would want to use: an app which gives Australians access to some of the world’s biggest companies without having to pay the significant international fees charged by the big banks and through other brokers.

“We are representing what we would want. Brokerage went digital, but there hasn’t been massive improvement [in affordability] since then,” Mr Leibowitz said.

Having tipped in more than $500,000 to build the platform and adding to their investments since then, the company is now profitable and generating around $3.5 million in annual revenue.

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Source: ‘Be your own hedge fund’: Investment startup Stake raises $3.5m