Nigerian micro-investing startup Trove has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Ventures Platform as it looks to get more people investing in financial securities.
Trove, whose simple micro-investing app is now in private beta here, allows users to invest in financial securities such as stocks and government bonds in Nigeria and in international markets such as the United States (US).
The startup’s platform was built to solve issues around the accessibility of securities investment, and allows Nigerians – and soon all Africans – to participate in the global economy and buy shares in international firms.
Trove’s team is a mix of repeat founders and finance professionals, which worked with Ventures Platform during the recent three-month ARM Lab Corporate Accelerator, where Kayode Oyewole, head of investment and portfolio support at Ventures Platform, said they had witnessed the team’s passion and commitment to democratising access to quality investment opportunities.
Oyewole said the current process for trading stocks and government bonds in Nigeria was fundamentally broken, while Africans also wanted to buy shares in firms like Dropbox, Lyft or Facebook.
“Ventures Platform has always been a strong proponent of democratising economic opportunities. Trove’s vision of a world of borderless investing is something that resonates with us and the existence of such a product would be really impactful,” he said.
“We’re particularly excited to see how the continent’s middle class and millennials adopt this service. The success of services like PiggyVest (one of our portfolio companies), has demonstrated consumers’ interest in taking control of their savings. We are convinced Trove will usher in a new generation into investing.”
