Millennial wealth building platform Belong launches in the UK
Belong, a new wealth-building platform aiming to democratise long-term investments for young people is launching in the UK.
Wealth-building platform Belong launches in the UK
The start-up’s product line at launch includes stocks and shares individual savings accounts (ISAs) and General Investment Accounts (GIAs) which, powered by a Future Wealth Simulator, enable users to invest in five different index funds, namely MSCI World, S&P 500, MSCI World ESG, FTSE All World Climate and UK Corporate Bond.
This remit is accompanied by a five-year amortising “Boost” loan option, which co-founder and COO Samantha Rosenberg says “allows more money to be invested upfront, thus magnifying the effect of compounding over time”.
The loan incurs a 5% to 6% fixed interest rate with a minimum £1,000 commitment to be paid in separate monthly instalments.
“In the past, applying leverage, or borrowed capital, to enhance long-term financial outcomes has been restricted to wealthier investors,” Rosenberg tells FinTech Futures. “Many of us struggle to get started, whether that’s due to a lack of confidence around investing, a sense of inertia, or feeling like we don’t have enough cash available to make it worthwhile.
“Belong is changing this by encouraging young people to get started earlier, with more, and tackling the blockers that stop us from taking a long-term perspective on investing.”
The start-up’s market arrival has been powered, in part, by the £2.95 million it secured in March through a pre-seed funding round led by Octopus Ventures. The round also received support from angel investors Gautham Radhakrishnan, Ricky Knox, and Nutmeg co-founder William Todd.
Starting up
CEO Avion Gray, a former product chief for Fiserv’s First Data Corporation who co-founded Belong with Rosenberg in 2021, tells FinTech Futures that the industry is “naturally bifurcated between wealth, or investing, and lending”, and that Belong exists to “stitch these two elements together”, a process she describes as “a tremendous challenge, but one that came with valuable insights and learning”.
The start-up is now encouraging users to join a waitlist on its website, where it states that “in time, we’ll provide a suite of embedded financial products, and offers from our partners, to help unlock maximum value from your future wealth”.
“We are embarking on a lifelong journey with our customers, engaging them while they are younger and then serving them as their needs evolve,” adds Rosenberg. “Our vision for Belong is to be the go-to place for young people to establish, grow and, later, use their wealth.”
