People are obsessed with markets in a way the world hasn’t seen since the dot-com craze two decades ago.
But how do people know which stocks to trade? The company’s app provides updates, analyst notes, and data tools for market junkies.
Think of it like Yahoo Finance on steroids.
Eric Shoykhet, CEO and co-founder of Atom, says he was frustrated with the limited set of financial analysis tools available to him a few years ago after leaving his job as an analyst at Blackstone Group, the private equity Goliath. The options were “super unsatisfactory,” he says, which is why he founded Atom.
Atom is riding a new wave of investor excitement, best exemplified by Robinhood, the app-based broker beloved by millennials that helped pioneer the elimination of stock trading fees. Following Robinhood’s lead, most brokerages, from Charles Schwab to Morgan Stanley’s E * Trade, lowered fees and found other ways to make money, including by lending the money that was left in accounts.
Industry-wide change, coupled with unprecedented market volatility and economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, has reinforced a new craze in the stock market. Since the beginning of the year, the trading volume of US equities attributable to retail investors has increased from 13% to 23%, according to industry data.
Atom is betting it can capitalize on the recent trend too: selling subscriptions to improved analytics tools. A premium version of the app, which debuted Tuesday morning, costs $ 10 per month. The paid edition offers the ability to see the scope of your individual share holdings across all your fund holdings (how much exposure to Apple shares do you have across all your ETFs?); the ability to search SEC files for keywords (search: “COVID-19”); and the ability to export data to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (for chair cover funders).
Atom will have to compete with existing rivals. Most smartphones offer default stock tracking apps. Robinhood makes available information, news articles and original editorial content. People read posts on financial blogs like Seeking Alpha and Motley Fool and chat on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, and other places. Serious hobbyists use tools like Koyfin and Genuine Impact, while pros rely on expensive Bloomberg terminals.
Atom hopes to attract the middle ground: people who want more granularity and insight, but don’t want to spend a lot of money.
Investors are betting there’s an appetite too. Greycroft, the New York-based venture capital firm, and General Catalyst, a Boston-based venture capital firm, have invested an additional $ 6 million in Atom on top of a $ 10.6 million round raised in December, then from an initial round of $ 2 million. . The cash injection brings Atom’s total funding to $ 18 million.
Shoykhet declined to reveal the private valuation of the company. Still, Fortune estimates it’s in the $ 50 million ballpark, based on data available through PitchBook, a private equity tracker.
Teddy Citrin, the Greycroft investor who led the deal, acknowledged that the recent widespread explosion of interest in the stock market contributed to the company’s decision.
Shoykhet says he believes the market needs more quality information providers. Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have focused “too much on the actual execution piece,” such as robotic advisors and wealth management software, “which we think is more of a commodity.
It will be up to Atom to fight his way through the commotion of a hectic trading floor.
