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Freetrade

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Not to be confused withfree trade.

Freetrade Ltd
Company typePrivate
IndustryFinTech
Founded2016;8 years ago(2016)
Founders
  • Adam Dodds
  • Davide Fioranelli
  • André Mohamed
  • ...
HeadquartersLondon,United Kingdom
Key people
  • Adam Dodds (CEO)
  • Viktor Nebehaj (CMO)
ProductsShare dealing
Number of employees
300 (2022)
Websitefreetrade.ioEdit this at Wikidata

Freetradeis a UK-basedfinancial technologycompany which offers afreemiumshare dealing service. The company was founded in 2016 and launched aniOSapp in October 2018, followed by anAndroidversion in April 2019.[1][2]In October 2021 the company surpassed one million registered users,[3]with quarterly trading volumes as of March 2021 of over £1 billion.[4]As of November 2021 Freetrade has over £1 billion of assets under administration.[5]

History

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Freetrade was founded in 2016 by Adam Dodds, Davide Fioranelli and André Mohamed.[6]In 2019, it brought aboard venture capitalistMolten Venturesto complete a $15M Series A financing.[7][8][9]In 2018, CTO and co-founder André Mohamed left and was subsequently hired to joinRevolutin 2019.[10]Viktor Nebehaj, an earlycrowdfundinginvestor, joined the firm as chief marketing officer. Ian Fuller joined as VP of Engineering fromSnapchatin 2018 and left in 2021.[11]

The company's $69MSeries Bround was announced in March 2021, led byLeft Lane Capital,with participation fromL Cattertonand Molten Ventures.[4][12]However, the company struggled to find new backers at a higher valuation in 2022[13]and had to resort to aconvertible loan note[14]supplemented by a furthercrowdfundedround and a staff reduction of around 15%.[15]

In January 2020, the company was accused of fostering a culture of fear after aCity A.M.investigation into staff claims of a toxic workplace.[16]Co-founder Adam Dodds responded, saying it has an honest and candid culture that not everyone is comfortable with.[17]

In January 2022 the UKFinancial Conduct Authority(FCA) issued a second supervisory notice ordering the company to remove "all paid for sponsored influencer advertisements and posts" across a variety of social media platforms.[18]This notice noted the adverts were misleading "as there are no guarantees of positive returns on any investment", thus increasing the risk of vulnerable people in debt increasing their debt.

In May 2024, Freetrade CEO and co-founder Adam Dodds announced his resignation after eight years, with COO Viktor Nebehaj set to take over.[19]

Operations

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Freetrade offers a commission-free trading app on theAndroidandiOSplatforms, which is open to users in the United Kingdom. Users may tradeequitiesandETFslisted in the UK and the US. For US assets, users may hold and trade fractional shares. Portfolios can be held in a tax-freeISAorSIPP(personal pension), in each case for a flat monthly fee. Freetrade launched its premium product, Freetrade Plus, in October 2020, offering an expanded list oftradable securitiesandorder types.[20][21]The product backend is hosted onGoogle Cloud Platformand Freetrade operates on aserverless computingmodel.[2]

In 2020, Freetrade had plans to enter the wider European market, beginning with Sweden,[22]Ireland and the Netherlands.[23]

Reception

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In an early review of the service,Forbesdescribed it as "a challenger stock trading app built for theInstagramage ", and commended it on being the first and only challenger stockbroker in the UK, but criticized the poor financial charting, and its then lack of US securities.[24]In a 2019 review forMoneyWeek,David Stevenson described the available securities, which by then included both UK and US listed stocks and ETFs, as a "decent slug of the large-cap universe". And while it did not offer a full-service platform such as established competitorsHargreaves LansdownorAJ Bell,"for those simply looking for regular, low-cost savings, I think Freetrade is hard to beat". Stevenson described Freetrade as his favourite fintech.[25]AtThe Next Web,Matthew Hughes credited Freetrade with "radically [changing] how I manage my money", inciting him to invest more, and increase his knowledge of the markets.[26]

Awards

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  • British Bank Awards 2021 – Best Online Trading Platform[27]
  • Good Money Guide 2021 – Best Commission-Free Stockbroker[28]
  • British Bank Awards 2020 – Best Online Trading Platform[29]
  • British Bank Awards 2019 – Best Share Trading Platform[30]
  • Good Money Guide 2019 – People's Choice[31]

References

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  1. ^Steve O'Hear (2 October 2018)."Freetrade launches 'zero-fee' investment app".TechCrunch.Retrieved15 October2020.
  2. ^abCaroline Donnelly (21 April 2020)."UK challenger stockbroker Freetrade backs Google Cloud to make investing more inclusive".Computer Weekly.Retrieved15 October2020.
  3. ^"Freetrade sails past one million customers".AltFi.Retrieved14 October2021.
  4. ^ab"Investment platform Freetrade raises £50m as homebound customers fuel revenue surge".Sky News.Retrieved23 March2021.
  5. ^"Freetrade hits £1bn in Assets under Administration".freetrade.io.Retrieved21 November2021.
  6. ^"FREETRADE LIMITED - Filing history (free information from Companies House)".find-and-update pany-information.service.gov.uk.Retrieved22 June2021.
  7. ^Emily Nicolle (25 June 2019)."Freetrade to close £7m in second crowdfunding round".City A.M.Retrieved15 October2020.
  8. ^Emily Nicolle (31 October 2019)."City startup Freetrade raises $15m from Revolut backer Draper Esprit".City A.M.Retrieved15 October2020.
  9. ^Steve O'Hear (31 October 2019)."Freetrade, the UK challenger stockbroker, completes $15M Series A".TechCrunch.Retrieved15 October2020.
  10. ^O'Hear, Steve (10 January 2019)."Revolut hires Freetrade co-founder and former CTO as head of Wealth & Trading Product".TechCrunch.Retrieved15 March2023.
  11. ^"Freetrade's long-serving chief technology officer to depart".Retrieved21 October2020.
  12. ^"Stock trading app Freetrade raises $69 million".TechCrunch.Retrieved22 June2021.
  13. ^"Fintech Freetrade struggled to find new backers at hoped-for valuation".FinancialTimes.Retrieved14 March2022.
  14. ^"Freetrade raises £30 million through convertible loan note".23 May 2022.Retrieved14 March2023.
  15. ^Smith, Oliver (10 June 2022)."Freetrade announces job cuts of up to 15% of staff".AltFi.Retrieved15 March2023.
  16. ^Emily Nicolle (29 January 2020)."Investigation: City fintech Freetrade accused of deliberately fostering 'culture of fear'".City A.M.Retrieved4 August2020.
  17. ^"Freetrade - Toxic culture".Glassdoor.Retrieved4 August2020.
  18. ^"Second supervisory notice"(PDF).Retrieved14 March2023.
  19. ^Emanuel-Burns, Cameron (15 May 2024)."Adam Dodds to step down as CEO of stock trading app Freetrade".Fintech Futures.Retrieved15 May2024.
  20. ^Oliver Smith (7 October 2020)."Freetrade launches its long-awaited Plus subscription with stop losses, limit orders and more".AltFi.Retrieved30 October2020.
  21. ^Duncan Leslie (6 August 2020)."Introducing Freetrade Plus".Freetrade blog.Retrieved30 October2020.
  22. ^"Freetrade: UK challenger stockbroker launches commission-free investment app in Sweden".UKTN (UK Tech News).10 November 2020.Retrieved11 August2021.
  23. ^Madison Darbyshire (23 January 2020)."Freetrade stakes claim in Europe's fee-free stock trading markets".Financial Times.Retrieved20 October2020.
  24. ^Oliver Smith (3 October 2018)."Freetrade Review: A Challenger Stock Trading App Built For The Instagram Age".Forbes.Retrieved15 October2020.
  25. ^David Stevenson (1 July 2019)."Why Freetrade is my favourite fintech".MoneyWeek.Retrieved15 October2020.
  26. ^Matthew Hughes (1 October 2019)."How this stock trading app changed how I save money".The Next Web.Retrieved15 October2020.
  27. ^"British Bank Awards 2021 Winners".Smart Money People.Retrieved13 July2021.
  28. ^"Good Money Guide Awards – The 2021 Winners".Good Money Guide.Archived fromthe originalon 8 August 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  29. ^"2020 Winners".British Bank Awards.Retrieved10 August2020.
  30. ^Oliver Smith (8 March 2019)."British Bank Awards see Starling, Monzo, Zopa, Freetrade, Chip and Bud take home gold".AltFi.Retrieved30 October2020.
  31. ^Richard Berry (10 May 2019)."Best Providers: 2019 Award Winners Announced".Good Money Guide.Retrieved30 October2020.
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