UMushroom Global Growth Plans

UMushroom, a Swiss digital platform that helps users make investment decisions, plans to raise a USD 5m-USD 7m

Series A round next year, co-founder Luba Schoenig told Mergermarket. The Zurich-based company, which is fundraising in-house and is using Walder Wyss as its legal advisor, will kick off the fundraising process in the early part of 2023, Schoenig said. The stake that investors in the round will receive is still to be determined, she said.

The company will use the funds to further grow its platform in the DACH region and in the UK in 2023 and enter the Scandinavian and Benelux regions in 2024, she said.

UMushroom raised CHF 2m (USD 2.1m) in seed funds from unidentified angel investors last year, as reported. It is using these funds to enter the German and UK markets this year, she said. The company is majority-owned by Schoenig and co-founder Tonia Zimmermann, she said.

UMushroom started earning revenue this year from its first asset manager clients, she said, declining to disclose details. It also reported its first advertising revenue last year, she said. It aims to break even by the end of 2024.

Founded in 2020, UMushroom aims to help users develop their investment knowledge by providing financial information in an easy-to-digest way, regardless of financial education level, according to company information. Its search engine and library of 5,000 equities are designed to help private and institutional clients easily navigate information, including information culled from social media. Users can make investment selections, build portfolios, follow professional investors at banks or asset managers, and join communities of other investors, Schoenig said.

Most of its revenue will come from asset managers, wealth managers, and banks that use the platform as a white-label solution for its customers, Schoenig said. For these customers, UMushroom will serve as a distribution channel for investment products, giving them direct access to end clients, she added.

The company launched the alpha version of the platform in August last year and is in the process of developing a mobile app for the platform, she said. It now has 3,000 active monthly users, Schoenig said. It aims to have 20,000 active monthly users by the end of the year, and 100,000 active monthly users by the end of 2024, she added. The company has 10 full-time employees and eight part-time employees, she said.

https://wwwmergermarket.com/intelligence/view/intelcms-qn6n47

by Ketaki Gokhale in Paris
First Published on: MergerMarket