Brothers launch DIY investment platform for ESG investors

The launch of the platform comes as global ESG and impact funds are forecast to reach $55 trillion in value by 2025, according to industry figures.

Image source: Omid Pakseresh/ GOODFOLIO

Two entrepreneurial brothers have launched a DIY investment platform targeting the rise in ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing.

Called GOODFOLIO, the startup was founded by Oxford-educated entrepreneur Omid Pakseresht, CEO, and his computer scientist brother Nima Pakseresht, CTO.

In short, GOODFOLIO is a platform to help DIY investors invest in firms and industries, which share their ethical values.

The London-based company raised £160,00 in pre-seed funding last year and is now on the hunt for a six-figure sum through crowdfunding and is also planning an institutional investment round in 2023. 

It is initially targeting the B2C investment market and says it has built up around £30m of assets to invest.

In the longer term, it also wants to target pension providers and investment managers in the B2B space.

GOODFOLIO said it can help DIY investors by providing “essential data”.

As an example, it says it provides “categorised lists of ESG funds with meaningful insights and an ability to search and compare different offerings”.

Investors can target funds that are aligned with their values, such as gender, climate, health, and water. 

The platform charges a flat fee of 0.45 per cent for the first £50,000 invested and a further 0.35 per cent for amounts invested above.

It claims this is more cost-effective than the likes of Hargreaves Lansdown which charges per transaction.

The brothers have long-standing experience in finance, product development, and data.

Among the company’s board of advisors are Bob Noyen, an institutional investment expert and Steven Hamblin, an angel investor and technology leader who built one of the first AI teams at Babylon Health.

Omid Pakseresht said: “After extensive work in developing our platform and crossing the regulatory milestone, we are now delighted to launch GOODFOLIO to support the UK’s growing, engaged and vibrant community of values-driven investors who want more control over what their capital does. 

“A majority of UK investors want to consider ESG factors but there is currently no effective investment platform to present clear and concise data at the point of decision making and provide tools for how investments can be aligned to values. 

“With GOODFOLIO, we address that issue by making it easy for users to invest, as well as manage and monitor the social and environmental impact of their portfolio via intuitive reports and tools. 

“Through our crowdfunding round we aim to grow GOODFOLIO’s presence in the UK market by bolstering our team and investing in further product development, marketing and customer acquisition.”

Global ESG and impact funds are forecast to reach $55 trillion in value by 2025, according to industry figures.

But a UK study revealed that while 77 per cent of people with over £25K in investable assets would choose sustainable investments, only 13 per cent have actually done so.