Darksquare, an alternative investment platform for individuals, has successfully closed a 拢260,000 funding round.
The round comprised 17 leading angel investors and Seedrs crowdfunding.
The co-founders, Daniel Harman and Alex Whitney, claim they鈥檝e created a unique model that lowers the barriers to entry to understand and access alternative asset classes that are usually restricted to ultra high net worth individuals, hedge funds and other institutional investors.
鈥淏eing well diversified, especially in times of market volatility like we鈥檝e had, is so important. Despite more people either already investing or looking to invest, the traditional range of available assets remains small unless you have in-depth knowledge or are ultra wealthy; Darksquare is changing this by democratising investment access,” said Harman.
鈥淲e are thrilled to already see so much confidence and belief in this new marketplace, and to have the backing of multiple leading angels with significant grounding in alternative assets.鈥�
Whitney added: 鈥淭he biggest trend we鈥檝e seen is that people want more control and transparency with their finances, and FinTech鈥檚 rapid development has enabled this huge push for innovation to meet this need.
鈥淒arksquare Capital speaks directly to this with easy-to-use and understand product options and our funding enables our commitment to delivering an exceptional and unique user experience as we develop further.鈥�
At present, equities, cryptocurrencies and ETFs are the assets the average investor focuses on, however 70 per cent of investors are seeking alternatives.
Staying within this limited group, they not only remain exposed to market volatility and aren鈥檛 able to truly protect their investment income or manage their risk, but also miss out on the potential larger returns in the alternative investments space.
Darksquare provides accessible research on these investments, bridging the knowledge gap and feeding the appetite for wider understanding and control of personal investments.
The funds raised will enable the platform鈥檚 growth ahead of the platform鈥檚 beta launch in mid-Q1 this year.
The beta rollout will feature two-three carefully selected investment products which the founders say with target yields in the 12 per cent plus per annum range. Asset classes will include distressed/special situations credit, forestry, renewable energy and/or real estate.
The new online platform allows more people to diversify their portfolios with alternative assets, including investing in diverse assets such as wind farms, distressed credit, forestry, carbon capture projects and real estate. ion.