Seedrs announces first in-app investing opportunity for Oval Money users to invest in startups via the fintech app

Oval Money and Seedrs announce the launch of a partnership that opens up startup investing to fintech users across Europe. The partnership begins today with Oval’s £1 million crowdfunding round on Seedrs, which shortly follows a £4 million injection of capital from top asset manager Eurizon Capital.

For the first time in the equity crowdfunding sector, the investment opportunity will be available to Oval users to register, become authorised and invest in the campaign all directly from the app, without having to leave it once. The API will allow the funding round to run simultaneously in the Oval app and the Seedrs site.

Oval was founded in 2017 by four young entrepreneurs: Benedetta Arese Lucini (former CEO of Uber Italy), Claudio Bedino, Edoardo Benedetto and Simone Marzola. On a mission to innovate in highly regulated markets, the founders saw a huge problem with the lack of young people saving or investing for their future. Unlike most fintechs, Oval is tackling this issue head-on, rather than as an add-on, and with it has 350,000 customers.

Oval’s goal is to allow users to access a variety of asset classes and investment opportunities, helping them be smarter with their spending and investing for the future. The partnership with Seedrs will empower their users to add early-stage private equity to their investment portfolios, alongside the other funds and investment vehicles that Oval offer.

Chief Technology Officer at Seedrs, Ricardo Brizido, says: “Our vision for Seedrs is to be a part of the wider fintech ecosystem, allowing investors to access this exciting asset class from anywhere, whether that’s their bank or their favourite fintech app. APIs like this one will play a crucial role in the integration of private marketplaces into more mainstream channels.”

Benedetta Arese Lucini, CEO and co-founder of Oval, adds: “We’re always looking for ways to expand our investment marketplace offering so our users have the best products on the market available to them. It’s a huge validation of our proposition to receive investment from an industry giant like the Eurizon Capital, as well as so many of our own customers who believe in our vision enough to invest in it.

In addition, it’s exciting to be part of a sector first. Offering our users the opportunity to invest in private equity is exactly the type of innovation we are continually striving to do, and we’re looking forward to seeing how our partnership with Seedrs develops after our raise as we continue to innovate on accessible and inclusive opportunities for our users.”

From today, the campaign can be found on the Seedrs platform: https://www.seedrs.com/oval-money or available within the Oval app.