The Company
Stack by Me is a fintech startup on a mission to make investing more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. After years of working in financial services, Stack CEO Madeleine Bjørnestad Røed realised that many people, especially women, were underserved and not actively investing. The idea to create an investment platform that would encourage more people to invest was born, and together with Stack co-founder Christine Thorsen Kvaalen, they embarked on building their investment app.
The Challenge
While scoping the requirements for their platform, Madeleine and Christine were aware that building the brokerage technology and infrastructure wasn’t feasible. They needed a partner that could provide this as a service with the expertise and compliance appropriate for the Norwegian market.
“With a clear vision set out for Stack, it was important for us to focus on building the user experience and brand, and leave the financial technology and trading infrastructure to a reliable partner. Doing this ourselves would have required significant resources and this just didn’t make sense.” — Madeleine Bjørnestad Røed, CEO, Stack by me
How Stack’s Solution Came Together
Stack by me selected Done.ai as a partner that could deliver all the investment infrastructure and services to power its app. At the core of the offering is Done.ai’s investment management system, Bricknode, which takes care of investment operations including trade execution and portfolio management.
“Connecting the Stack app with Done.ai’s back-office platform was really straightforward thanks to their APIs. Their team provided support and guidance during implementation to make sure everything ran smoothly.” — James David Tandy, CTO at Stack by me
Stack was able to outline the offering they wanted which included the ability for their customers to invest in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Providing a service in tune with local trading regulations and customer behaviour is a fundamental part of Done.ai’s offering.
“Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, so it was really important to have a system that supports the Norwegian market. Done.ai’s platform provides access to local funds and supports share savings accounts (ASK) so our customers can buy, sell, and exchange mutual funds tax-free,” said Madeleine.
Done.ai was also able to take care of the safekeeping of end-customer assets on behalf of Stack through its custody service. “Safekeeping is a significant responsibility and comes with a lot of administrative processes like managing corporate actions, tax, and foreign exchange,” said Madeleine. “Done.ai’s team has over two decades of experience in managing the safekeeping of assets, and this service means we can remain focused on our customers.”
Democratising Investing and Future Expansion
Since launching its app, Stack has already opened up the world of investing to thousands of individuals across Norway.
“Partnering with Done.ai has enabled us to go to market faster than we could have ever imagined. By taking care of all the back-end infrastructure and processes, we’ve been able to focus on building the Stack community and offering valuable learning materials and investment courses to our customers.” — Christine Thorsen Kvaalen, Co-founder, Stack by me
At launch, Stack offers investments in mutual funds and ETFs, which are some of the most popular assets among retail investors. Done.ai’s platform supports a broad range of financial instruments, and Stack is already planning to expand its offering to include stocks.
“As we grow, we’d like to introduce more investment choices for our customers,” said Madeleine. “Knowing that Done.ai can support multiple assets and scale alongside our business was a key reason we chose to work with them.”