Pluto.markets, a Copenhagen-headquartered startup focused on brokerage services, has successfully raised $2.6 million in funding. The funding round was oversubscribed and included investors such as Magnetic, a Berlin-based technology investor, as the lead, along with participation from six local unicorn founders, Y-Combinator, Nordic Makers, and other notable angels. Founded by a former Goldman Sachs trader, Pluto.markets aims to revolutionize the brokerage market in the Nordic region and beyond. They plan to achieve this by simplifying investing, particularly targeting the 100 million Europeans living in countries with their own local currencies. The funding will be used to launch across the Nordic region in 2024, as well as to further develop their core banking infrastructure for the EU and expand their user base.
Pluto.markets is a Nordic investment app that has been rebuilt from the ground up to offer the experiences that modern investors desire and deserve. It is fully regulated in Denmark, ensuring compliance with financial regulations and standards. The app likely provides a range of features and services tailored to the needs of investors, possibly including easy-to-use interfaces, access to various financial instruments, and innovative tools for managing investments.
”We expect 2024 to be a breakthrough year in which we will launch across the Nordic region that remains dominated by incumbents with 50%+ profit margins. The financial markets are currently undergoing a true revolution and this round positions us to become the leading challenger in the Nordics and beyond,” says CEO & co-founder, Joakim Bruchmann.
The company describes its mission as making investing stupid-simple, drawing on inspiration from companies such as Robinhood and Trade Republic but with a focus on the 100m Europeans living in countries that have their own local currencies, such as the Nordics, where little innovation has happened since the 90’s due to infrastructure bottlenecks.
With a lean setup, the company has just secured an EU Investment Firm and Custody License, built proprietary core banking infrastructure for the EU and tested their social trading-app with 5.000+ excited demo-users.
“We stand on an incredible foundation and have already hit regulatory milestones and built technology that other companies raised $40m+ to accomplish, which enables us to unlock new revenue streams and innovate quickly. We were capital efficient before it got cool.” says CTO & co-founder, Oscar Vingtoft.
With neo-brokerage penetration in the EU lagging other regions significantly, the coming years will see the future winners establish themselves. This especially holds true for non-EURO countries.
“We are really excited to lead Pluto.markets’ $2.6m funding round alongside a group of extraordinary investors. We are big believers in financial participation as a driver for lasting and systemic change, which aligns well with Joakim’s and Oscar’s approach, starting with modern proprietary core banking infrastructure for underserved regions. The gap in the market is obvious and the Pluto team has proven that they have what it takes to win.” commented David Rosskamp, Managing Partner and founder of Magnetic.
Click to read more funding news.
Originally published on ArcticStartup : Original article