Magnetis, an automated wealth management solution for Brazilian investors, has raised $11 million in a new round of funding as it transforms itself into a full service brokerage for the nation’s investor class.
Investors in the round included Redpoint eventures and Vostok Emerging Finance, the company said.
“We’re quite happy with this vote of confidence from our investors. It only reinforces the credibility of our service and business model, which uses technology for goal-based investment management, without creating a conflict of interest,” said Luciano Tavares, founder and CEO of Magnetis. “The new funding will be used to launch our own brokerage and to develop new functionalities that improve customer experience and provide a complete and curated journey through goal-based investments.”
First launched five years ago, the company has set up 350,000 investment plans and has more than 430 million reals under management, according to a statement from the company.
The company said it planned to hit more than 1 billion reals by the end of 2021.
“Today, the Brazilian market is more sophisticated, with a sharp drop in a dependence on fixed income and a rise in more financial assets, including funds, shares, commodities and fixed-income securities. Defining a personal investment portfolio is a science, not a game or lottery,” said Anderson Thees, founder and managing partner of Redpoint eventures, in a statement. “Magnetis’ great differentiator is its ability to set up a personalized investment plan, with first-rate assets and its use of AI to manage all the variables in a sophisticated way. Magnetis is well-positioned for accelerated growth and our team at Redpoint is excited about guiding them during this new phase of our partnership as the fintech sector continues to boom in Brazil and beyond.”
Fintech in Latin America is a booming investment category, with companies like Nubank skyrocketing to multi-billion dollar valuations, and accounting for 22 percent of all Latin American fintech startups.
As the company closes on the new financing, it’s also launching a brokerage, which will enable the company to do more for its customers, according to Tavares. It may also allow the company to keep more money for itself since it doesn’t have to work with outside parties to execute trades.
“Our model for digital assets management and wealth creation is much more complete and sophisticated. The vision is to be a financial guide for our clients; making their investment experience simpler,” Tavares said in a statement. “A total integration with the broker makes the client’s journey simpler, more consolidated and complete.”
Tavares and Magnetis is also making a commitment to transparency around fees.
“We do not receive commissions on the products we recommend to customers,” said Tavares, in a statement. “The asset selection process is done in a transparent and automated way, and customers pay us an annual consulting fee based only on the amount they invest, and not according to the recommended investments. The end result is the selection of high quality products that are more aligned with the clients’ objectives.”