Pakistan's KTrade raises $4.5 million for its stock trading app


Karachi-based stockbroker KASB Securities, who owns and operates the stock trading app KTrade, raised $ 4.5 million in a financing round led by Hong Kong-based investment firm TTB Partners and New York-based global VC HOF Capital . Fintech investor Christian Angermayer and David Mortlock, managing partner of the German investment bank Berenberg, as well as Pakistani entrepreneurial families also took part in the round.

KASB is one of the oldest brokerage houses in Pakistan and was relaunched in 2018 by Investment Executive Ali Farid with a focus on retail investments. The company launched KTrade, a stock trading app for individual investors, in 2019 and has since served thousands of users in Pakistan. The app enables users to sign up for a brokerage account and start trading with as little as 5,000 PKR ($ 32). KTrade charges 0.03 PKR for trading shares at a price of 20 PKR or less and 0.15 percent of the share price for shares with a price greater than 20 PKR. On their website, the company claims that this is the lowest commission in the industry.

Since its inception, over 200,000 have registered on the app to access research and virtual trading - thousands of those users have used the app to trade stocks, KASB chair Ali Farid told MENAbytes, adding that over 50 percent of the trading volume being served by your brokerage now comes from the app. In addition, KASB supports corporate and private customers using a large number of other instruments.

The Pakistani financial regulator, the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, had introduced online registration / onboarding for broker accounts in late 2020, which has made trading relatively easier. However, the KYC requirements still include pay slips and bank statements, which means that a large number of Pakistanis cannot sign up for brokerage accounts.

The chairman of KASB, who previously served as chief financial officer of UK fintech SafeCharge, remains optimistic about the future of retail investment in the country, with a goal of reaching 10 million Pakistanis (local and overseas) through KTrade by 2023 so they can invest in stocks, bonds, commodities and mutual funds through KTrade.

In a statement, he said: “People in Pakistan traditionally turn to gold or real estate when considering investment opportunities. However, as the regulatory approach, authority and credibility of the Karachi Stock Exchange has grown, more and more people are becoming familiar with stock market investing. This is an exciting trend, but accessing these markets remains a hurdle for millions. KTrade will enable this mobile-first population to participate in the investment opportunity. By connecting these people to businesses, we can drive capital trapped in unproductive assets into the formal economy, which would ultimately create a positive cycle of economic growth and higher investment. "

“Most people in Pakistan do not have access to formal financial products and their savings in real estate or gold offer lower returns, are inefficient and have high transaction costs. Our goal is to democratize access to the capital markets and give them the opportunity to invest on the stock exchange. The strong demand for KTrade shows that the market is ready for this transformation. Other regional and emerging markets have experienced a similar development, led by successful fintech companies, ”added the KASB chairman.

Stock trading apps like Robinhood, Zerodha, Flatex and many others have made retail investing easier and more accessible for investors in markets like the US, India and Germany. With KTrade, KASB wants to build on its success in Pakistan.

Jonathan Bond, Managing Partner at TTB Partners, said, “Pakistan and South Asia have some of the most exciting market dynamics and demographics in the world, and KTrade is well positioned to benefit from the democratization of finance in the region. We look forward to investing in the latest KASB financing round and supporting Ali and his first-class team on their further path.

“We have been extremely impressed with what KASB has built in recent years, both from a technical point of view and from the educational overlay to investments that the company has made. In particular, we believe that with KTrade, the company provides an excellent solution for expanding equity market participation across Pakistan, ”he added.

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founder at the MENAbytes

A tech and startup enthusiast from Lahore, Pakistan. Zubair is not only building MENAbytes, but is also building Qraar, a career and development platform for millennials in MENA. He can be reached on LinkedIn, Twitter or zubair Menabyte With. Pakistans-KTrade-raises-45-million-for-its-stock-trading-app.jpgLatest posts by Zubair Naeem Paracha (See everything)

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