UK brokerage start up Investa has raised £700k in funding from a crowdfunding round.
The company used Crowdcube, a popular UK crowdfunding platform, for the raise, which drew in over 500 investors.
The neobroker had already raised over £1m in a seed funding round from a mix of individual investors.
Investa is looking to take advantage of the boom in options trading that has taken hold in the US.
That really began with the launch of Robinhood, which pioneered a cross-selling model that used commission-free stock trading to switch customers over into more profitable options products.
Exchanges, notably the CME Group, have also attempted to cater to this market by launching smaller size contracts for both futures and options.
Some brokers have already begun targeting the UK. Most notably, IG Group has launched US equity options trading for UK clients. The company owns US options broker tastytrade.
“We estimate that only 2% of UK investors have traded an option compared to 20% in the US, so there’s a clear opportunity to bridge this gap,” said Investa CEO and Co-Founder Alec Beasly.
“With Investa, we are aiming to make the options market more accessible, and the incredible interest in our first crowdfunding campaign proves that there are investors out there who want what we are offering.”