Zeed, a new platform that combines TikTok-style video content with financial investments, has raised £205,000 in pre-seed funding.
London-based Zeed is looking to bring investing to a younger audience with a platform that hosts short-form video content alongside its more traditional stock trading service.
Financial content on social media platforms such as TikTok has risen in popularity, particularly among younger audiences. Some of this content has been criticised for providing false information or promoting scams.
Zeed, however, is looking to legitimise that content with verified creators and fact-checked videos. UKTN has contacted Zeed to ask how it plans to verify and fact-check these creators at scale.
“One of the biggest barriers faced by Gen Z investors is developing the knowledge and confidence to decide what to invest in,” said Salman Hussain, Zeed co-founder and CEO.
“More investors want autonomy over how they invest their money, especially when it comes to themes like ESG and impact investing.”
Zeed believes that Gen Z is an untapped market for investments that have previously been ignored.
The company was inspired by data collected by Hussain’s previous venture, a finance professional community group called Finance Focussed.
Finance Focussed found that 87% of its largely Gen Z membership said that a lack of access to information was stopping them from making investments. It also found that short-form video content is considered the most engaging.
“We felt the problem personally as Gen-Z investors ourselves, and saw our peers face the same problem through the community we built at Finance Focused,” said Rohan Regmi, Zeed co-founder and CFO.
The funding round was led by early-stage investment firm SFC Capital, which recently secured a £5m investment from British Business Investments, a subsidiary of the UK government’s economic development bank.
“New generations think differently and have different habits when it comes to learning and accessing information,” said Adam Bev, investment manager at SFC Capital.
Being able to tailor products to new Gen Z users, and doing it as brilliantly as Zeed, is extremely important to be future proof.”
Zeed is looking to launch its mobile app later this month, which will feature video content on investment trends and financial advice. Zeed will incorporate the ability to invest directly in UK and US equities via a TikTok-style feed.
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