Three former fund managers have built a system that aims to make investing in global funds a whole lot easier…
You know the story. A mate at a barbecue tells you he’s just invested in some great shares that are taking off. ‘Missed out again’ you think, as you sit back dolefully in your seat and take another sip of your 150 Lashes.
Well, don’t miss out anymore.
Local fintech Atlas Trend are here to help, and being smart former fund managers, they saw a gap in the marketplace and have been quietly chalking up the progress since launching a couple of years ago.
Co-founders Kent Kwan, Jade Ong, and Kevin Hua all worked for large investment management and financial market companies, overseas as well as in Australia.
In those roles, they collectively invested billions of dollars around the world. While it was enjoyable for a while, they all agreed there were some things that could have been done a little better. Perhaps most apparent was the fact great investment opportunities were often only available to a select few.
This sparked them to seize an opportunity to blend technology with their investing experience and to, in their own words, “democratise global investing”.
Starting from scratch with a blank sheet of paper, they set out to make the experience simpler, easier, more transparent, and accessible for more people.
How?
“When you strip away jargon, unnecessary complexity and properly utilise technology, investing can be made much more accessible,” Atlas Trend co-founder Kent Kwan told Startup News.
All people need, Kent argues, is two key things: information, and an online investing platform.
1. Information: AtlasTrend members have unlimited access to a personal hub of jargon-free investment insights, tips, and strategies direct from the investment team to help them become a smarter investor.
This includes full disclosure of what the funds are investing in and why. So even if they’re not investing with Atlas, they can use the AtlasTrend approach to guide investments or simply help link the theory to practice.
2. Online investing platform: AtlasTrend aim to make it as easy and transparent as possible to get started. You can start investing with $100 per month or a $1,000 lump sum. Pricing for AtlasTrend starts from $9/month (for investing up to $15,000), with a 30-day free trial. Read AtlasTrend’s Product Disclosure Statement (pdf) for more details.
AtlasTrend launched in early 2016 and since then 4,000 people have signed up.
Atlas’ Trends
The team has developed four main funds (or ‘Trends’) that a user can invest in, each named after the major trend the fund follows: ‘Online Shopping Spree’, ‘Big Data Big’, ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ and ‘Splurging Baby Boomers’.
“When we created ‘Trends’, we asked a simple but very important question – what are the themes or trends happening around the world that are impacting the way millions and sometimes billions of people live their lives over the next 10 to 20 years?” said Kent.
Users simply pick a trend they identify with, and believe in, and the AtlasTrend team manages the rest, including the underlying investment decisions relating to which listed shares each Trend invests in.
How’s it Going?
The investment performance for each of the Trends can be accessed here, and at the time of writing, the best performers are the Online Shopping Spree fund (which includes such e-commerce giants as Amazon and Fedex) which has risen over 23% over the past 12 months, and 13% a year since inception. The Big Data Big Fund (which includes Google and Apple among others) has risen 17% over the past year.
Voice
Not resting on their laurels, the team has recently launched Astro, Australia’s first voice-activated personal investment assistant.
Astro can talk to users about the fundamentals of investing, insights on building wealth early and for users who are already invested in the Trends, Astro can help initiate an additional investment request.
The video below shows a demo for Astro…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGak5v3fG8&w=640&h=360]
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MAIN PHOTO: Co-founder Kent Kwan showing off the AtlasTrend site, at FLUX main lobby, Perth
Disclaimer: Atlastrend Pty Ltd (ABN 83 605 565 491) (AtlasTrend) is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 001233660) of Fundhost Limited (ABN 69 092 517 087, AFS License No. 233045) (Fundhost).
Any advice contained in this communication is general advice only. None of the information provided is, or should be considered to be, personal financial advice. The content has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situations or needs. You should seek your own advice before making any financial or investment decisions.
The information provided in this communication is believed to be accurate at the time of writing. None of AtlasTrend, Fundhost or their related entities nor their respective officers and agents accept responsibility for any inaccuracy in, or any actions taken in reliance upon, that information. A copy of AtlasTrend’s financial services guide can be found at www.atlastrend.com.
Any managed investment fund product (Fund) offered via this communication is offered via a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) which contains all the details of the offer. The PDS is issued by Fundhost Limited as responsible entity for the Fund.
Before making any decision to make or hold any investment in a Fund you should consider the PDS in full. The PDS is available at www.atlastrend.com or by calling AtlasTrend on 1 800 589 778. Investment returns are not guaranteed. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Disclosed investment returns assume reinvestment of all distributions and are not inclusive of: 1. Membership fees (from $9 to $99 per month) to access AtlasTrend’s investment content and managed funds. 2. The performance-based withdrawal fee, applied to all pre-tax investment gains when you redeem. Visit www.atlastrend.com/pricing for more information.
