Meet Sigmastocks – providing an alternative for people looking to invest in stocks
2015-01-22
Sigmastocks creates stock portfolio distributions for customers to follow, making it possible for them to manage their assets themselves for a fraction of what it would cost to invest through a mutual fund. Customers will also be guided with strategies for re-investing, long-term considerations, as well as other challenges and concerns throughout the entire investment process.
The founders are Mai Thai and Nanna Stranne. Mai holds a Master of Science degree from Chalmers University of Technology, in innovation and entrepreneurship and Nanna is finishing her M.Sc. in financial mathematics and innovation.
Sigmastocks entered Chalmers Innovation Startup Camp in the spring of 2014 with an idea and a vision. The idea was identified while conducting their master thesis concerning entrepreneurship. The banks’ high fees and profit margins have been discussed frequently in the media lately. It was revealed that many Swedish managed mutual funds had in fact holdings very similar to indexes. Only 4% of all “actively” managed funds outperform its comparative index over time*. In addition, many people want to invest in stocks instead of funds, but choose not to for various reasons. This is partly due to lack of interest and/or knowledge, as well as time. Sigmastocks provides an alternative for people looking to invest in stocks and in that way avoiding high management fees. The company’s portfolio analysis is based on self-created and validated mathematical algorithms that generate portfolio distributions for customers.
Startup Camp is a great kickstart.
”Startup Camp is a great kickstart. The mentorship and workshops was very useful and definitively helped point us in the right direction. The feedback and insight received from the other startup teams throughout the Startup Camp was surprisingly effective. The weekly feedback sessions, where the progress and current problems or challenges for each team were discussed, were also very valuable for our development process.”
The company has now received an investment from Chalmers Innovation and moved on to the accelerator program. They mention being able to receive mentorship when you need it, as a very beneficial thing for an early startup. But it’s not only about the coaching, the network within Chalmers Innovation has helped open many new doors and opportunities.
During their time at Stena Center they have reached several milestones; validated problem-solution fit, a functioning service available to the public, the first real customers and four stock portfolios developed, whereas three are available on their website sigmastocks.com. Of course they’ll be looking for more investors to join.
”We believe that a company worth investing in is a company that has a complete team, a scalable idea, a problem worth solving and unique expertise or good intellectual properties. Like us!”
So these women want to help us to save more money, but will this business earn them any?
”The estimated amount of private investors investing in mutual funds in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway, are 7.39 million, 4.16 million, 4.27 million, and 3.84 million respectively. The largest market for Sigmastocks will be the United States, which will be looked into at a smaller scale in early 2016. The United States stands for 48% of the worldwide mutual funds assets**. The customer base for Sigmastocks has great potential.”
Sigmastocks are currently in Chalmers Innovation seed accelerator program, coached by Jörgen Hansson.
Foto: Christian Granqvist
*http://www.aktiespararna.se/sajt/kontakt/lokalavdelningar/lok/aktiespararna/OrebroSydnarke/Borskronika/DAGS-ATT-BEREDA-MINNESLUND-FOR-AKTIVT-FORVALTADE-FONDER/
**http://www.icifactbook.org/2010/fb_ch2.html