Stocktwits, a Social media platform for retail investors, raises $30M in a Series B round

New York-based Stocktwits, a social media platform for retail investors, has raised $30 million or Rs 228 crore in a Series B funding round led by Alameda Research Ventures. The Times Group's Times Bridge also participated in the round to help the company expand its services in the Indian region. 

Following this development, Stocktwits joins Times Bridge’s growing global portfolio of category-creating, category-leading companies, including Airbnb, Coursera, Headspace, Houzz, Smule, Stack Overflow, Uber, among other companies.

Founded in 2008 by Howard Lindzon and Soren Macbeth, Stocktwits has designed a community platform for sharing ideas between retail investors, traders, and entrepreneurs. In a broader sense, The platform enables investors and traders to track conversations around asset classes like stocks, crypto, and other investments.

The company will utilize the raised capital for its global expansion that will start from India, adding products and services and expanding the asset class coverage – including crypto, the statement said.

“India is an incredibly dynamic investor market and we are thrilled to be partnering with Times Bridge to advance our mission and expand our reach in the subcontinent," said Rishi Khanna, CEO of Stocktwits. “If we're not in India, then we have no business being a global platform. The Indian youth really have an opportunity to be global influencers in the investment markets," he said.

Apart from this, The company will also focus on expanding the coverage of asset classes on its platform and growing its business model beyond advertising-based revenues. It aims to partner with different trading platforms and investment platforms down the line to add new revenue streams, the company said.

"Markets are converging, and everyone has access to the US markets and assets like crypto are global in nature. Given the size of youth in India, the decision to expand was a no-brainer," Rishi adds.

It's worthy to mention that Stocktwits was the first platform to organize the conversation around tickers using cashtag (for example $AAPL). The company claims to have more than 6 million users, with over 1 million active monthly users on its platform.

Stocktwits’ social-first philosophy will cater to this new generation of Indian consumers with not only retail investor participation growing across the country, but also with people turning to one another - and social media - for making investing approachable and successful, the company said in a release.

The New York-based company currently has seven team members as part of its India operations and plans on expanding the team in 2020. For this, Times Bridge will accelerate strategic partnerships, platform localization, and content for Stocktwits to drive adoption and impact across India, it said.

Additionally, It plans on ramping up India operations by the second quarter of 2022 and is also working on growing its influencer base in the country across channels such as YouTube, Twitter, and others.

"Times Bridge’s mission is to advance India's entry, scale, and leadership for the world’s best ideas in India. Stocktwits is one such idea that has, for years, offered groundbreaking social solutions, and access, for retail investors worldwide," Rishi Jaitly, Founding CEO of Times Bridge, said.

Also Read:

• Stockative: India's exlusive social media platform for retail investors and traders

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