Investa Launches ‘Robin Hood’ Rewards Initiative for Users to Share in Its Future Success

UK investment platform Investa, founded by options professional Alec Beasley, is launching a first-of-its-kind reward programme giving early users a financial stake in the platform’s future growth.
 

While US options giant Robinhood grew from a $10 million valuation to a $32 billion IPO and Revolut went from £8 million to £55 billion, it was mainly shareholders who benefitted, not the customers who were instrumental in driving that growth. Investa’s programme intends to turn this around and bring a true Robin Hood approach by giving users the potential to be financially rewarded for the value they help create. 

The company, which is focused on making options trading accessible to UK retail investors, will initially reward more than 3,000 of its most active and engaged users with a one-off grant of options on its shares worth up to £1,000 at the company’s last valuation of £10 million. The programme will later expand into a wider referral model where both referrers and new users can earn company options tied to the company’s growth. 
 

Examples of potential future value of awards:

Note: Future value depends on a variety of factors, including company growth; no financial outcome is ever guaranteed, and the above is for illustrative purposes only. 

“At the heart of every successful platform is a community of early users who spread the word and build momentum,” said Alec Beasley, Co-founder and CEO of Investa. “For years, businesses have scaled using highly engaged customers, but the financial upside has largely gone to shareholders. We’re changing that because it’s both shareholders and customers that enable growth. With options on shares up to £1,000, the upside for our early supporters could be substantial. Imagine being granted £1,000 worth of options on Revolut or Robinhood 10 years ago; that’s what we’re aiming for.” 

Unlike traditional schemes focused on short-term cash incentives, Investa’s approach is centred on long-term participation. While future value depends entirely on growth and no outcome is guaranteed, the initiative illustrates how ownership upside can scale over time. For example, a £1,000 options award at Investa’s current valuation of approximately £10 million would theoretically be worth around £100,000 if the company were to become a fintech unicorn and achieve a £1 billion valuation.

“Most loyalty programmes give users a nominal reward with little long-term alignment, despite those customers continuing to generate value for the platform,” said Beasley. “We wanted to do something fundamentally different. As an options trading platform, it felt natural to give options traders – the very people helping build the business – options.”

Investa recently secured direct FCA authorisation and has raised £3.6 million from over 1,000 investors via two Crowdcube campaigns, alongside backing from angel investors from global banks, including Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, UBS, and HSBC, as well as some of the world’s largest hedge funds and proprietary trading firms.