Stockpile raises $30m to boost millennial stock ownership
Stockpile raises $30m
Millennial-focused brokerage firm Stockpile has pulled in $30 million this week in a Series B funding round led by Fidelity, writes Julie Muhn at Finovate (Banking Technology‘s sister company).
Mayfield, Arbor Ventures, Hanna Ventures, Wang Ventures, and others also participated.
This investment boosts the California-based company’s total raised to $45 million. Avi Lele, Stockpile’s co-founder and CEO, says the company will use the funds to “bring stock investing to more millennial customers and expand its unique features”.
David Milstein of Eight Roads, who is joining Stockpile’s board as a part of the investment comments that Stockpile “has had tremendous success in attracting the next generation of investors”. The company’s “innovative approach takes the mystery out of stock investing and opens up access to all. Stockpile has put the stock market on a gift card.”
Stockpile launched in 2015 and sells its gift cards directly to consumers online and on store shelves via a partnership with Blackhawk Network. The company has also partnered with a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Verizon and FIS, which offer Stockpile gift cards as employee and/or customer incentives.
“We’re on a mission to make it simple for everyone – especially young, first-time investors – to save and invest for their future,” states Lele. “Fractional shares make market investing fun, easy, and personal. Even someone with only a few dollars can buy a piece of a favorite brand like Amazon or Alphabet, which are currently trading close to $1000 a share.”
Stockpile was co-founded in 2010 by Lele and Sanj Kulkarni. Last year, it acquired SparkGift, transferring SparkGift’s customer base to its own brokerage platform for free.
