iTech Capital, a fund with Russian origins now operating globally, has just invested $3 million in exchange for a minority stake in TradingView, a social fintech platform that unites traders and investors from around the world.
Also participating in this Series A round, which totalled $3.6 million, were Chicago startup accelerator TechStars and prominent US business angels who took part in the seed stage round in early 2014.
Based in Chicago, TradingView provides an innovative online platform where thousands of amateur and professional investors and traders share insights and ideas in real-time, free of charge. The site claims it currently serves over 500,000 monthly active users from 100 countries, having experienced a 10% month-on-month organic growth since launch in 2012.
In addition, TradingView produces financial charts with data which are used by over 4,000 financial portals and websites such as Investopedia, InstaForex, DailyFX. As a result, more than five million monthly unique visitors are engaged with the TradingView brand through partner platforms, according to the company.
TradingView claims it has “no direct competitor” and that its technology was “at least one year ahead of the market.”
“TradingView is doing in the financial industry what the first iPhone did to old phones,” says founder Stan Bokov. “If you are a trader or an investor, you’ll just ‘get it.’ It’s a completely new way of visualize and analyze financial data. No matter matter you’re on a phone, a tablet, a PC or any other device — it’ll just work.”
From Southern Russia, to Canada, to Chicago
Born in Rostov-upon-Don, Southern Russia, Bokov moved to Canada at the age of 11, then he moved to US in 2012. He still visits regularly his native city, where the TradingView development team is located, the iTech Capital press service told East-West Digital News.
This round of investment will allow TradingView to develop and launch new services, including localisation, as well as expanding their sales and marketing efforts to enhance customer acquisition activities and implement new data feeds.
iTech Capital Managing Partner Gleb Davidyuk and Portfolio Manager Alex Telnov will both join TradingView’s board as executive directors.
Launched in 2011, iTech Capital invests up to $10 million in businesses from all over the world in the fields of ad technologies, financial technologies, Big Data, and online travel. Like many other Russian funds, it tends to focus more and more on the US and other markets.
