Fintech
Exclusive: Fintech Startup Female Invest Raises $11.2M, Plans US Growth
Female Invest, a Y Combinator-backed fintech startup that encourages women to invest, has raised $11.2 million in funding.
Founded in 2019, the subscription-based platform offers articles, videos, and seminars on trading and investing. The company charges $13 per month to use the platform and claims to have 73,000 paid users in 123 countries.
CEO Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen told Business Insider that “there is a strong market appetite for this product.”
“We are specifically targeting women because they are lagging behind financially globally, not only because they earn less, but also because they invest less,” she added.
In 2022, The company has acquired the investment platform Gaia TradingHartvigsen said the integration will allow Female Invest to offer investment services to its users alongside its educational platform.
“We have grown and expanded the company significantly, integrating a trading license and its technology, so that we can start trading next year,” Hartvigsen added.
Headquartered in Copenhagen and London, Female Invest is poised to expand its operations in the U.S. with the proceeds from its latest fundraising and will begin evaluating a soft launch there in early 2025, Hartvigsen added.
Female Invest’s funding comes in the form of a $10.2 million equity financing round led by Educapital, Europe’s largest fund dedicated exclusively to edtech, and social impact investor Rubio.
“We started raising money in the first quarter and we expected it to go very quickly because we knew our numbers were very good and we had maintained the same rate of burn for two years,” Hartvigsen said.
“It took longer than expected because it’s a pretty tough time for fundraising at the moment and we were also pretty picky about who we wanted to involve,” he added.
The company also raised $1 million through a crowdfunding campaign.
Female Invest will aim to double its team of 35 employees in the next year, bringing the number to 18 months, Hartvigsen added.
Below you can see Female Invest’s 12-slide pitch deck.