Stock-prediction start-up Pynk raises $2m

1 Oct 2020

Image: © Gajus/Stock.adobe.com

Pynk will use the funding to build an AI engineering team in Toronto and launch its new ‘retail investor wallet’.

London-based wealth-management start-up Pynk has raised $2m in pre-seed and seed funding, with crowdfunding on Seedrs and FunderBeam.

Pynk was set up in 2018 by Seth Ward, Rupert Barksfield and Mark Little. Drawing on AI to aggregate stock predictions, its goal is to develop a “more equitable investment model for everyone”. The start-up has taken part in programmes from the Founder Institute and NatWest Accelerator.

The fresh funding will help the company expand beyond the UK and establish an engineering office in Toronto, Canada. It will build a team of AI engineers there over the upcoming year to further develop its AI tech.

Pynk will also use the funding to launch its ‘retail investor wallet’ later this year. The product will enable retail investors to deposit money into Pynk and access a managed portfolio. Through the company’s app, users can make market predictions and earn financial rewards.

The portfolio is free for users who make at least one price prediction every week. Non-active users will have to pay fees of 0.12pc each month.

According to Pynk, the platform lets investors see where their money is being invested and put it into causes that align with their personal ethics. The company sells the data it has collected from its community to large financial institutions to help them understand the future of markets.

“The investment brands we know today fall under two extremes: self-directed DIY investing, where it may be fun and sticky but, as many have pointed out, the risk of losing your money is extremely high,” Ward explained.

“On the other hand, [there are] done-for-you portfolios, which are managed for you or simply indexed but do not provide any flexibility, meaning you don’t get a sense of involvement or the ability to avoid general market losses during unprecedented events like Covid-19.

“Investment is better when people work together to avoid bias, which is why we are building a new model for investors.”

Updated, 3.00pm, 17 August 2021: A previous version of this article stated that investors in Pynk included the Founder Institute and NatWest Accelerator. This was updated to clarify that the start-up participated in accelerator programmes from Founder Institute and NatWest, but did not receive investment. 

Lisa Ardill was careers editor at Silicon Republic until June 2021

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