RockFlow raises $10m to become “Robinhood of Asia”
The platform has a wide ranging product offering covering stocks, futures, forex, bonds, fractional shares, ETFs, and mutual funds.
RockFlow has completed a $10 million angel round of funding led by Bluerun Ventures which will fuel the company’s talent and product expansion.
Committed to becoming the Robinhood of Asia, the Beijing-based fintech startup founded in July 2021 aims to provide a one-stop investment service for Generation Z.
Vakee Lai, founder of RockFlow, commented: “Whether it’s value investor or quantitative investor, everyone should have their preferred brokerage platform and enjoy the fun in the investment wonderland […] I enjoy investment very much, so I want to create a smart product and let more people experience the fun of it.”
AI-powered trading platform boasts robo-advisors
“The new generation will have a strong demand for investment and financing when they grow up, but the investment products in the market now are still very traditional and complex, which has become an obstacle for those young people to participate in. Robinhood’s outbreak during the pandemic proved the potential of the investment market, which is why I am so bullish on RockFlow”, said an unnamed investor.
RockFlow uses algorithms to customize investment reports and data analysis tools based on users’ preferences and provides robo-advisors with portfolios tailored to each individual’s risk profile and investment goals.
Targeting the younger generation, the AI-powered trading platform aims to reduce the barriers to investing by allowing users to open an account in less than 2 minutes and invest in fractions of US/Hong Kong stocks for as little as $1.
The platform has a wide ranging product offering covering stocks, futures, forex, bonds, fractional shares, ETFs, and mutual funds.
“The next Robinhood”
The Robinhood phenomenon, which was more pronounced with the rise of retail investing following lockdowns across the globe amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has brought a stream of challengers aiming to claim the “next Robinhood” brand.
While RockFlow is vocal about looking to become the “Robinhood of Asia”, Dutch trading platform BUX has quickly announced it was offering European traders Robinhood-style expertise though it has brought its brokering in-house.
In addition to cryptos, the company also offers commission-free investing that lets users invest in brands and companies they like via its own app. In 2020, BUX announced the soft launch of its service that enables users to trade US shares at no cost, with users who want access to more advanced functionalities paying a small fee for the execution of their transactions.
Also, the company operates BUX Crypto, a platform that allows users to trade cryptocurrencies commission-free. The platform is currently available to customers in 25 European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and France.
The crypto brand emerged after BUX acquired Blockport, a European social cryptocurrency investment platform, in a bid to further expand its service offerings. Blockport was rebranded to BUX Crypto and registered with the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) as a cryptocurrency services provider under the BUX brand.
Bitpanda and Gotrade are two other neobrokers that have shown that constant innovation within the trading industry is required to attract and retain customers, especially new users.
A recent report by Million Insights has estimated that the global neobrokers market size will reach USD 12.55 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2021 to 2028.
