Voleo: Vancouver Fintech Makes Investing Easy and Fun

Fear, confusion and lack of knowledge prevents many people from investing. Therefore, many of us tend to leave our hard-earned dollars sitting in a savings account, earning little or no interest at all. One Vancouver-based fintech company, Voleo, wants to change all of that for today’s generation of investors.

Founded in 2013, Voleo is a mobile-focused platform that provides a new, more convenient, and engaging way to invest together. Voleo realized that the current investing options were not meeting the expectations of today’s digital generation that are constantly interacting, collaborating and sharing almost every aspect of their lives through social media, digital platforms, and mobile apps.

Voleo’s vision is to change investing from a confusing and frustrating chore to an accessible and enjoyable social experience for both new and experienced investors.

Voleo lets you:

• Form an investment club and invite partners
• Combine your funds and expertise
• Propose, discuss, and vote on trades
• Collaboratively manage your portfolio
• Follow and learn from other groups
• Research stocks and receive relevant news

We had a chance to interview Voleo’s CEO, Thomas Beattie, to get his thoughts on the future of mobile investing platforms and what opportunities and advantages a fintech startup may have in Canada versus elsewhere.

Trulioo: How is Voleo different from other mobile investment platforms?

Thomas: Voleo enables you to combine your assets and knowledge with people you know and trust to leverage the power of your network. Directly from your mobile, you will propose, discuss and vote on trades, which execute automatically on majority. It is lower cost, lower risk, and because groups make better decisions you should outperform. And the best part? Voleo tracks all of your decisions so you can prove to your friends how things would have gone if everyone had listened to you. The transparency is unprecedented and builds a community you can trust. Follow top investors for the best ideas in real time and validate them with your peers. We’re creating a generation of informed, empowered investors.

Trulioo: What do you like most about running a fintech startup in Canada?

Thomas: Voleo is very fortunate to be based in Vancouver, Canada. First of all, Vancouver itself is a major tech hub, which provides a lot of support and resources such as local skills and talent and the availability of support from organizations such as BCTIA. In addition, the local industry is very active which provides numerous and varied networking and collaborative events including regular pitch opportunities and panels. Initiatives like these help the whole industry by supporting collaboration and idea sharing, making Vancouver a perfect place to create a fintech start-up. Going more regionally, our tech industry has recently started being recognized by the provincial government in BC with regards to the contributions our industry makes to the economy. As such, the BC government has started a number of programs and initiatives to support the growth of this important industry. Finally, Canada is a great place to work, with clear rules and regulations and a strong securities commission with an active and involved stock exchange whom we have been very fortunate to collaborate with.

Trulioo: What’s on the horizon for Voleo?

Thomas: Since the Voleo platform has now been through a large-scale simulated beta in collaboration with Toronto Stock Exchange, in our first annual Voleo TSX Equity Trading Competition, we have commenced preparation for the second annual event. Our team is very excited and gearing up for Voleo to launch in the USA in late 2016 as well.

On behalf of Trulioo, we would also like to congratulate Voleo on their recent win! The company was recently accepted into Accenture’s 2016 Fintech Innovation Lab in London. As the only Canadian participant in this year’s global cohort, this is definitely an advancement in the Canadian financial technology landscape.

Stay tuned for our next blog series featuring local tech startup, Change Heroes, a social enterprise on a mission to solving an epidemic social problem, with their one simple formula.