UK robo-advisor Wealthify to launch crowdfunding round
UK robo-advisor, Wealthify, which launched in April, plans to raise £1m ($1.3m) via a crowdfunding campaign to support the next stage of customer acquisition and growth. Wealthify plans to introduce new sales channels and extend its product range to include pensions and ISAs. Money transfer and spending app, Revolut, received pledges of £20m last month after launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise £1m to top up a conventional funding round.

The robo-investor Wealthify plans to raise £1 million in capital from the crowd through Seedrs. Continuing its mission to democratize investing in the UK, the online investment service, which went live in April, plans to launch its public crowdfunding campaign on 12 September. Priority access will be given to anyone who pre-registers before 9 September via Wealthify’s website.

“Since Wealthify launched in April, demand for our service has exceeded expectations. With interest rates hitting a new all-time low of 0.25% this month, even more people are now seeking alternative ways to make their money work harder,” commented CEO and co-founder Dr. Richard Theo. “Crowdfunding was the logical choice to help us raise capital investment to realise our ambitious growth plans, since our proposition shares similar values: to open up the world of investing to the everyday person.”

Wealthify aims to raise £1 million through Seedrs in addition to funding raised from angel investors. The robot-investor will use the capital to support the next stage of the customer acquisition and growth strategy, creating national brand awareness, introducing new sales channels and extending products and services to include pensions and other types of ISAs.

Cardiff-based Wealthily touts itself as an affordable and easy-to-use online investment service which requires no prior investment knowledge or experience and is open to anyone, regardless of whether one has £250 or £2 million to invest, and is significantly more cost-effective than traditional wealth management services. Using advances in digital technology to automate and simplify the investment process, co-founders Dr. Richard Theo, Richard Avery-Wright and Michelle Pearce have created an intuitive online service that makes investing affordable and accessible to everyone.