Dubai

With US$12.2 Mil Investment, This Singaporean Robo Advisor is Setting Up Shop in Dubai

WeInvest, a Singapore-based digital wealth services and robo-advisory firm, announced that its next phase of expansion will be into the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

WeInvest combines robo-advisory and software-as-a-service for banks, wealth and asset managers, insurance companies and independent financial advisors. WeInvest recently secured their Series A funding of US$12.2 million from Schroders.

Some of WeInvest’s products include GrowWealth, a robo-advisory-as-a-service providing goal-based and thematic investing journey for a Bank’s usualy underserved or self-directed clients.

The company also offers AdviseWealth, an Relationship Manager-assisted advisory which equips advisors to grow and deliver client service in the face of challenges like system, product and compliance restrictions, manual processes and limited products. WeInvest also has a third product, TrackWealth, an aggregation-as-a-service, aimed at allowing banks to understand, analyse and engage its clients better.

Their entry into the UAE follows their expansion across other Southeast Asian markets like Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Their UAE office will be located at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), though they will be serving the overall Middle East Market which usually includes Africa and South Asia.

WeInvest was selected as one of the 11 finalists for the first edition of FinTech Hive, part of DIFC’s accelerator programme launched in August 2017.

The accelerator programme provides a platform for the world’s most innovative start-ups to test, develop and adapt their solutions to meet the evolving needs of the Middle East region’s financial services and insurance industries. WeInvest was chosen to undergo a 12-week programme under the guidance and mentorship of some of Middle East’s financial institutions and insurance companies from the Middle East and across the globe.

Announcing the expansion news, Bhaskar Prabhakara, CEO and Co-Founder, WeInvest said:

Bhaskar Prabhakara

“Our growing relationships with financial institutions in the UAE have prompted us to open an office in DIFC. Our association with DIFC has been of vital importance to us and being part of their accelerator programme in 2017 only escalated our decision to expand there.

The expansion into the UAE is timely with the region opening up to more business opportunities. UAE is currently witnessing a digital revolution across industries be it fintech, e-commerce, or medtech. Financial institutions in the UAE today recognise the significance of disruptive solutions and are innovating at a great speed.

Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer at DIFC Authority commented:

Salmaan Jaffery

“Today, they are a fully licensed company in the Centre, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth. WeInvest is well-positioned to leverage the intergenerational transfer of over $1 trillion in private family wealth currently taking place in the region.”

WeInvest also recently announced their tie-up with Singapore-based OCBC bank and CGS-CIMB Securities to provide its robo-advisory platforms for their clients. The OCBC RoboInvest is an automated, algorithm-based digital investment service targeting young and tech-savvy investors, and requires an initial investment amount of just US$2,500. As for CGS-CIMB, the robo-advisory platform eWealth brings personalised investment advisory services to its retail clients.

Featured image credit: Edited from Pixabay