BUX, a Dutch fintech startup that wants to make investing more accessible, has secured $80 million (approx £58 million) in funding led by Prosus Ventures and Tencent.
New investors like ABN Amro Ventures, Citius, Optiver, and Endeit Capital, along with the existing investors HV Capital and Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures, participated in the round.
How will the funding be used?
The Amsterdam-based company, which recently welcomed its 500,000th customer, will use this investment as an additional impetus to expand its commission-free investment app BUX Zero.
In addition to the investment round CEO and Founder Nick Bortot hands over the reins to the current COO Yorick Naeff.
The 37-year-old new CEO will focus on further accelerating the roll-out of zero commission investing across Europe. However, Nick will remain involved with BUX as a member of the non-executive board.
Doubled its assets in three months
Founded by Egbert Pronk, Joost van de Wijgerd, Nick Bortot, and Robbert Bos in 2014, BUX Zero has more than doubled its assets under management, in the past three months.
With interest rates at all-time lows and struggling pension systems, there is a fast-growing appetite to start investing especially amongst the younger generations.
Younger generations in Europe now realise that investing is one of the few viable ways left to create a stable financial future. With this new funding round, BUX will continue to spearhead innovation by implementing advanced features to further shape the future of how Europeans invest. We are extremely grateful to have top tier investors like Prosus Ventures and Tencent on board to support us in our mission”, said Yorick Naeff, BUX’s new CEO.
BUX Zero
Launched BUX Zero in Germany, France, Austria, and Belgium in the past year, the company will continue its international expansion throughout 2021, solidifying its leadership position.
BUX’s flagship platform, BUX Zero, is making commission-free investing accessible, and affordable for both first-time and existing investors allowing them to invest in a large suite of shares or ETFs they care about.
The full range of BUX products, including BUX Crypto which allows users to invest in real cryptocurrencies, and BUX X, where users can trade in contracts for difference (CFDs), are available across Europe.
“Traditional financial market investing comes with a lot of friction and we firmly believe in the democratization of access to financial services for the next generation of investors. The existing solutions are expensive, complex, and not designed for younger generations,” said Sandeep Bakshi, Head of Europe Investments for Prosus Ventures. He added, “BUX has built the next generation of investing services that are low cost, convenient and intuitive for even the newest investor, while covering the full spectrum of investment options, including cryptocurrencies. They have already experienced impressive growth and are the best-positioned neo-broker to scale across Europe and beyond.”
“We are excited about backing BUX as they are the leading neo-broker in Europe and have been able to build a platform that is sustainable and scalable. BUX is the only neo-broker in Europe that offers zero-commission investing without being dependent on kickbacks or payments for order flow. This ensures that its interests are fully aligned with its customers. We will support BUX in its journey of pursuing consistent growth for the years to come”, said Alex Leung, Assistant GM at Tencent, Strategic Development.
Yorick Naeff appointed as CEO to take BUX to the next level in parallel with the funding round, founder and CEO Nick Bortot will hand over the helm of the company to its current COO Yorick Naeff. Nick will remain involved with BUX as a member of the non-executive board.
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