Invest in the stock market like someone ordering a pizza

Everything arose from a personal problem of Javier Sanz Alvarez. Entrepreneur since the age of 20, he had managed to raise money to invest rather than leave it in the bank. The problem is that he encountered many bureaucratic difficulties and an even more complicated fact that the brokers charged a very high commission.

Javier Sanz wanted to dedicate his new company to solving this problem. He didn’t have to look far for inspiration. Based in the United States at the time, he followed in the footsteps of a startup that had become fashionable among millennial investors. Robin Hood, currently valued at $8.3 billion. affiliated with Charlotte Gomezfrom investment banking, who was also in the US at the time, and both decided to come to Spain to start an equivalent to Robinhood.

After more than two and a half years of development and adjustments to receive National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) approval, the market launched on May 8th ninety ninean application for anyone who wants to invest in the stock market that exempts them from paying commissions.

The idea is to give every saver the opportunity to invest in the most powerful companies in the world, such as Google, Netflix or Amazon. To do this, they offer their clients an investment service without commission and with the possibility of transferring money immediately and withdrawing it at the time they choose. In doing so, they open the door to the stock market for the general public, the world in which three quarters of the world’s wealth was concentrated and until recently reserved for an elite.

The way fintech needs to make money is by charging users a flat rate that is set based on the amount to invest. There is no minimum amount, nor is it required to be on the cutting edge of technology, as one of the team’s main efforts has been to simplify the investment process as much as possible through a simple and intuitive app. As for the possible knowledge barriers that the user might suffer, they solve them with what they call the Academy, under the heading of Learning, a free training service for the most mundane.

The only product they currently offer is buying and selling stocks of US companies. Today they allow investments in 80 securities, but they say they already have enough connections to expand the offering to thousands of American securities, later opening the way to other products and markets, including the national one.

€7.2 million investment before market launch

Instead of using a third-party license like other fintechs do, at Ninety Nine they preferred to do their own development and start the Securities Company from scratch. Firstly, this required top-class professional profiles and, secondly, an intensive investment of capital.

The Ninety Nine team, which today consists of around 30 people, includes professionals whose careers have gone through well-known startups such as Carto, Geoblink and Cabify. In addition to the technological part, which represents 80% of the workforce, there are legal, financial and business experts, as well as the customer service department. With such multidisciplinary and high-level profiles, it is normal for Javier Sanz (28 years old) to recognize the complexity he has found when it comes to “leading the team and finding the necessary fit so that everyone works happily” .

In terms of investments, the startup has already raised 7.2 million euros from various sources. Among other things, they have received financial support from the Breega Fund or support from Martial Portela Y Michael Goguikian, ex-directors of Santander in Latin America; the entrepreneur Inaki Berenguer or executives from Citi, Baker McKenzie and JPMorgan.

However, Sanz Álvarez does not want to highlight the amount achieved, but the simplicity of the app into which they have translated the strong technological component behind it. “The goal was to make investing in the stock market as easy as hailing a cab or ordering a pizza, and I think we’ve achieved it,” he says.

The solution was rolled out just a week ago, but it won’t be 100% operational “for a month or two.” At the moment they prefer some customers who have been applying for membership for a long time, but they claim to have thousands of users on the waiting list. They also have CNMV approval – the passport – to operate in six other European markets. It now remains to become the most important European securities company, which is the goal that Sanz wants to achieve in the medium term.