CrowdSense (t/a Pynk) secures £1.6 million Seed investment via Seedrs and FunderBeam

Pynk raises $2M (£1.6M) Seed funding to grow tech team and launch retail investor wallet  

Seed round reinforces Pynk’s mission to tackle financial inequality, as it looks to launch its product globally in Q4 2020

1ST OCTOBER, 2020 (LONDON) Pynk, the wealth management startup helping people invest smarter, today announced it has raised $2M million (£1.6M) across their pre-Seed and latest Seed round, with crowdfunding on Seedrs and FunderBeam. Notable supporters of Pynk include Founders Institute, Natwest Accelerator and 365.fintech VC. 

The London-based startup which uses AI to find the Wisdom in Crowds™to make better investment decisions for all, will use this injection of funding to launch its retail investor wallet later this year (Q4 2020). Retail investors joining Pynk will be able to deposit money into Pynk and access a free managed portfolio. Through Pynk’s app, users can make market predictions and earn monetary rewards. 

Pynk will also focus on scaling its team of engineers by opening an office in Toronto, Canada, the global hotspot for AI research, later this year. Pynk will be building a team of AI engineers over the upcoming twelve months, to further develop its AI Rose. 

A managed portfolio that works for everyone

Pynk aggregates and harnesses the stock prediction and forecast data of super-predictors around the world, in order to create a more equitable investment model for everyone. The company has been designed to remove the conflict of interest between individuals and professional fund managers, by creating a community that works together to make smart investment decisions. 

It is estimated two in three (66 percent) of adults are financially illiterate. Pynk is on a mission to help everyday people make safe, smart and sustainable investment choices. Pynk is gradually introducing consumers to a sophisticated understanding of investment through gamification. Users are able to learn through play and through the community, which in turn encourages users to coach each other and increase each other’s level of understanding. Pynk manages the portfolio, providing users with the confidence to invest safely, whilst offering a DIY element to make it an enjoyable experience. 

Pynk will bring transparency to the industry by providing customers with the power to select where the money is being invested. Currently, there are limited product offerings that allow an individual to invest their money in stocks that are in line with their personal ethics. Consumers can only see the surface of an investment fund (i.e. whether its high performing or not) and are not able to see where their money is invested, such as oil, weapons, fossil fuels – all potential elements that an individual could have an issue with. 

“The investment brands we know today fall under two extremes: self-directed DIY investing, where it may be fun and sticky but, as many have pointed out, the risk of losing your money is extremely high; on the other hand, done-for-you portfolios which are managed for you or simply indexed but do not provide any flexibility, meaning you don’t get a sense of involvement, or the ability to avoid general market losses during unprecedented events like COVID-19. Investment is better when people work together to avoid bias, which is why we are building a new model for investors combining AI and Crowd Wisdom to create Wisdom in Crowds™. Our mission is to protect people from losing their money while empowering them with the tools to enjoy making more thoughtful investment decisions” said Seth Ward, co-founder and CEO at Pynk.

Since starting Pynk two years ago, we’ve grown to a talented team of 20 across the globe, who have been working hard to launch our retail investor wallet in a few months. To further grow our product and AI technology, we’ve excited to be launching an office in Canada, tapping into the talented and diverse pool of engineering talent coming from Toronto. This will fit perfectly with our flexible, forward-thinking working practices.”

Growing the largest crowd community

Crowd Wisdom requires diversity in the crowd and through word of mouth marketing, Pynk’s has built a strong community of over 36,000 strong retail investors, from 184 countries. The data from Pynk’s international crowd powers its AI Rose, which analyses the data to identify who to listen to and, at any point in time, for any given asset – allowing the business to find the Wisdom in Crowds™. It is then able to understand future price action across asset classes. 

Pynk then combines this with their expert analysis, to help make better investment decisions for everyone. The company has partnered with Lucena Research, a leading provider of investment decision technology to integrate unique crowd intelligence AI into Lucena’s model portfolio offerings. The integration combines Pynk’s “super-predictor” intelligence with Lucena’s advanced predictive analytics platform, QuantDesk(r) for high-confidence forecasting in Gold Futures. Additional assets such as Bitcoin, Nasdaq Index Futures, EUR/USD and FTSE-100 will be available in the near future.

Rudolf Vrabel, Managing Director at 365.fintech, added:

“We’ve yet to see another company like Pynk that is using technology to help make investment accessible to everyone. In our current climate, it has never been more important to be financially literate, so we’re proud to be supporting Pynk launch and lead the change in transforming the investment industry.”

Pynk had built a symbiotic financial system between retail investors and large institutions. In exchange for prediction data, retail investors are able to access a 0% fee managed portfolio. In order to obtain the 0% fee, users must be an Active Predictor on the Pynk app, meaning they need to make one price prediction a week. Non active users on Pynk will be charged 0.12% per month. Meanwhile, Pynk sells collected data it has collected from its community to large financial institutions. The data allows these businesses to understand the future of markets, ensuring they are prepared. 

To learn more about Pynk and sign up to the waitlist, please see here: https://www.pynk.io/ 

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ABOUT PYNK 

Founded in 2018 by co-founders Seth Ward, Rupert Barksfield and Mark Little, Pynk is a licenced wealth investment company, powered by AI and Wisdom in Crowds. Pynk aggregates and harnesses the stock prediction and forecast data of people around the world, in order to create a more equitable investment model for everyone. The company is headquartered in London and has grown to a team of 20. Pynk has won a number of industry awards including Best AI Startup at AIBC Blockchain Summit and the Great Pitch battle at Wolves Summit. 

Safiya Marzook

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