Midas, a retail investing startup that gives access to US and Turkish equities in Turkey, has raised $11m in equity funding.
The fundraise, which comes just 8 months after the company’s inception, was led by Spark Capital and Earlybird Digital East Fund, with Nigel Morris, Revo Capital also participating. This is one of the largest FinTech seed investments to date in Turkey.
The company previously raised $1m in a seed round that took place in March 2021, led by Deniz Ventures.
Midas is the first retail investment app in Turkey to offer low commission trading, fractional shares and US equities. The company said, “We believe investing should be accessible and fair to all. Our aim is to provide a democratic financial investment experience without privileges.”
Prior to Midas, Turkish residents did not have the opportunity to invest in popular US stocks for many reasons, ranging from high minimum balance requirements to expensive transaction fees ($25 per transaction with $25 minimum balance requirements).
The company launched with a large waitlist in April 2021, and over $100m has now been traded on the platform. In less than a year since launch, Midas now has a team of 70 people based in Istanbul.
Midas offers low transaction fees for investments in US stocks, fractional investing and free live market data. The Borsa Istanbul (Turkish stock market) product is in closed beta and will soon launch to offer commission-free trading of Turkish stocks.
What’s more, the company is also “investing heavily” in educating the market by producing easy to digest financial content for free. The company offers detailed profiles on companies, a daily podcast, and a weekly newsletter for its users to make sense of the markets.
The company seems to have attracted a young user base; half of its users are first time investors under 30. As such, Midas believes it is well positioned to build the future of investing in Turkey.
The capital will be used for launching cryptocurrency products, building infrastructure to power banks and neo-banks in their investment offerings, as well as growing the user base.
Mehmet Atici, partner at Earlybird Digital East, said, “Over the last decade, we have seen the rise of modern mobile investing platforms globally. However, emerging markets have remained out of reach for large well-known players due to the local requirements that result in high barriers to entry.
“This leaves a unique opportunity in these markets, where both offline and online dynamics are extremely in favour of fast growth – as the penetration rate of financial instruments has been historically low and online customers are underserved.”
Copyright © 2022 FinTech Global
