eccuity

In Founder Focus we introduce entrepreneurs and change-makers working on innovative startups, social enterprises and SME’s around Aotearoa New Zealand.

At a glance

Founders: Charlie Meaden and Abinesh Krishan

Business: eccuity

Founded: 2022

HQ: Auckland

Can you tell us a bit about your business?

We are eccuity, an intelligent investment platform where you can invest in US equities, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies in one place.

Our goal is to provide a premium investment experience without barriers—a digital investment bank for everyone.

Consider what Sharesies, Hatch, and Robinhood have excelled at: making trading individual assets accessible and easy. We like to say they provided the market with fishing rods, but eccuity is here to teach you how to fish.

With our freemium subscription, we cater to users just starting out, as well as those seeking a premium investing experience without the high costs. A free user regularly investing $200–$500 each month could save around 50% using eccuity compared to Sharesies or Hatch. For clients with $1 million, we could save them up to $17,500 each year compared to managed funds or traditional brokers, as our subscription fees cap at $1,500 per year, offering $1 million in free trading volume along with many premium features.

Two of our standout features include:

Modelled Portfolio Builder: Build or copy modelled portfolios within the platform, allowing investors to run multiple strategies simultaneously, making investing more strategic and intentional. This is currently the best way to dollar-cost average in the market.
AI Assistant Portfolio Analysis: Our AI will analyse your entire portfolio, providing insights into what’s driving its performance, so you no longer have to guess why your investments are moving up or down.

What’s the backstory for your business idea?

It began after I (Charlie) finished developing my gaming platform, which we grew to over 400,000 users in 18 months. I then started considering asset allocation and how I’d create my own approach. My background in manufacturing and software, with a focus on simplifying systems, seemed like a solid foundation for investing.

I noticed many investors get stuck in a single approach, living and dying by it. I believe one should draw wisdom from various strategies, as I’ve done in Jiu Jitsu, gaming, parenting, and investing.

Over a couple of years I formed my own systematic strategy. Four pillars in investing are quant, value, macro, and Austrian economics. I had faced many operational challenges in executing my multi-strategy approach which led to us building the eccuity platform and creating the brokerage business alongside the technology.

What programmes, learning or mentoring, or resources have been of assistance so far?

We are lucky enough to have taken the Berkshire Hathaway approach to building a business.

Great unit economics, frugal, a great team and perhaps most importantly a shareholder base that believe in our vision and are extremely supportive in helping us execute on that mission. Shareholders appreciate you treating them like family because when you go to war for your family you are less likely to give up and we all know that going from zero to one is difficult.

In terms of books and podcasts that have shaped my thinking are as follows, which I highly recommend all of them: