Ambit represented startup Fondee in negotiations for a CZK 10 million venture capital investment from the J&T group.
Czech fintech startup Fondee sought to simplify investing in stocks and bonds and let people invest online without advisors. A CZK 10 million investment from a strategic investor within the J&T group, together with the investor's financial market expertise, was intended to support the platform's continued growth. An article in CzechCrunch announced the investment on November 3, 2020.
Fondee makes investing accessible online
Fondee was founded in 2017 by married couple Eva and Jan Hlavsovi. They launched the platform to the public in January 2020 to simplify investing in stocks and bonds and enable people to invest online without advisors.
Users selected their preferred level of risk, and the platform automatically allocated their money across several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) holding hundreds of stocks or bonds.
Capital and expertise for further growth
The J&T group invested in Fondee through J&T IB and Capital Markets, as a contemporaneous report by Lupa.cz clarified.
The new capital, together with J&T's expertise, was intended to accelerate Fondee's growth. The founders saw the partnership primarily as an opportunity to draw on J&T's financial market knowledge as they continued to build the investment platform.
Further development and licensing
In its annual report for 2023, Fondee later stated that the November 2020 investment had provided a foundation for further development toward obtaining a securities dealer license. The company obtained the license in mid-2021. At the same time, it switched to J&T Banka as its broker.
