A former Goldman Sachs trader founded Pluto.markets, a Copenhagen-based brokerage startup backed by Y-Combinator that plans to upend the Nordic and international brokerage innovation markets has just closed a €2.4 million fundraising round.
Berlin-based technology investor Magnetic is leading the fundraising round. Six local unicorn creators (Pleo, Synthesia, Zendesk, Sitecore), Y-Combinator, Nordic Makers, and other well-known angel investors participated in the round.
According to CEO and co-founder Joakim Bruchmann:
“We anticipate 2024 to be a historic year when we introduce our products throughout the Nordic region, where incumbents with profit margins of 50% or more will predominate. The financial markets are currently going through a true revolution, and this round positions us to become the leading challenger in the Nordics and beyond.”
The company’s stated goal is to make investing stupid simple. It takes inspiration from businesses like Trade Republic and Robinhood but focuses on the 100 million Europeans who live in nations like the Nordics that have their currencies and haven’t seen much brokerage innovation since the 1990s because of infrastructure constraints.
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The business, which operates leanly, recently obtained an EU Investment Firm and Custody License, developed exclusive core banking infrastructure for the EU, and tested its social trading software on more than 5,000 enthusiastic demo customers.
Oscar Vingtoft, CTO and co-founder said:
“We have a strong base upon which to build, having achieved regulatory milestones and developing technology that has required other companies to raise over $40 million. This allows us to rapidly innovate and open up new revenue streams. Before it became hip, we were capital efficient.”
The EU is well behind other regions in terms of neo-brokerage penetration, thus the next several years will see the establishment of the winners of the future. This is especially true for nations outside of Europe.
David Rosskamp, Managing Partner and creator of Magnetic stated:
“We are thrilled to be leading this €2.4 million financing round for Pluto.markets with an incredible set of backers. We firmly think that financial involvement may spur long-lasting, systemic change. Starting with a cutting-edge, unique core banking infrastructure for underserved areas, this is in line with Joakim and Oscar’s strategy. The Pluto team has demonstrated that they have what it takes to succeed. Indeed, the gap in the market is evident”
