In this era, you want to be abe to trade stock stocks where yu want and when you want on the web. You want seamless order management capabilities, but there currently there’s no option that is both accessible and frictionless. Frustrated by this, a team of three FinTech leaders assembled and built TradeIt, a simple trading platform that can be incorporated into any website — mobile or web. Available on over 45M apps, TradeIt is already making a mark.
AlleyWatch spoke with TradeIt CEO Nathan Richardson about the startup and how it hopes to change the fintech landscape.
Tell us about the product or service.
TradeIt is a retail investing technology that enables app developers, publishers and ETF issuers to integrate major US retail broker’s functionality into their site or app. The company has seen some great traction with over 45 partners across publishers, mobile apps and on social media platforms. Available typically where a company or ticker symbol appears, TradeIt allows investors to view, manage and create a trading ticket with a broker of their choice securely through the publisher site.
How is it different?
TradeIt is the only technology that enables multi-broker order management in app.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Retail Investing is one of the largest markets in one of the largest global industries, Finance; it is a $5BN ad market alone. With over 80% of financial activity happening on mobile, we are the only solution giving users mobile access to their retail investing information & activity in app when the markets are moving. 1) We give users what they want: immediate access; 2) we give financial firms what they want: increased access & security; and 3) we give app developers & publishers what they want: engaged & desirable users.
What is the business model?
TradeIt has three revenue streams: 1) Licensing of the technology to publishers 2) Highly targeted advertising in the SDK for brokers to reach valuable clients and eventually 3) transactional revenue for every order placed.
What inspired the business?
Throughout our careers that ranged from running Yahoo! Finance to WSJ and Bloomberg, my co-founders and I had all heard from both retail investors and financial firms that they wanted a frictionless order management capability.
Are publishers incentivized for integrating your platform?
Publishers are incentivized from both a product and revenue standpoint. TradeIt’s brokerage integration makes their app’s content more relevant to the user. The result is stickier user behaviors with our partners seeing a 3-8x increase in engagement when they have our portfolio view product. Integrating TradeIt also introduces revenue opportunities as brokers see the value in marketing to retail investors across many different apps in the mobile ecosystem.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
We have a number of milestones that we plan to hit including launching our BOT product in partnership with Kasisto on key messaging platforms, FX trading support, which opens our partners up to a 24 hour trading marketplace and a few key launches that we’ll be introducing in the next few days.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
There isn’t just one, and there isn’t enough space to capture it, but something important to remember is to pick your partners, internally/externally/funding wisely.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
Marty Chavez, CIO of Goldman Sachs. He’s a tech leader, vacuuming up tech talent at a bank, building modern systems in a centuries-old institution, and he happens to be another gay parent. There are very few role models in finance, let alone tech, for gay executive parents. It’s awesome to know that he’s on the management committee of a major global powerhouse.
Steve Cohen, he has insights & knowledge of how to leverage technology & data that are unparalleled in fintech, he is demonstrably philanthropic and he was an underdog who beat a bad rap. You might say that I relate to grit, determination, outsider status and curiosity of innovative technology.
Why did you launch in New York?
New York is the Global Headquarters for Finance. You can’t get much better than NYC when it comes to knowledge, talent and distribution for the financial services industry.
Where is your favorite bar in the city for an after work drink?
The Lamb’s Club– Geoffrey & Margaret Zakarian have brought chic & sophisticated tonics to an otherwise rowdy neighborhood– particularly convenient when going to theaters or transiting from midtown east to the west side.
