Nigeria’s Risevest, an asset manager providing Nigerians with access to foreign investments, has officially acquired Chaka, a a digital trading platform, and the two firms aims to build a more formidable and comprehensive financial partner for their customers independently, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Risevest and Chaka have long been dedicated to empowering individuals to achieve more with their financial journey. With our shared vision and commitment to democratising access to global investment opportunities, this union marks a significant milestone in our mission,” announced Eke Urum, founder & CEO Risevest.
Chaka was founded in 2019 by Tosin Osinbodu in Nigeria to allow users buy shares of publicly traded companies in Nigeria and the United States fractionally for as little as $2. In 2021, Chaka received a digital sub-broker license just three months after it was nearly shut down by the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for operating without a license. The firm had at one time had its bank accounts frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Launched in partnership with DriveWealth, LLC, a U.S. based leader in global digital trading technology and facilitated by Citi Investment Capital Limited, a licensed Nigerian stockbroking firm registered with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chaka provides its customers with compliant access to the US stock market as a digital ‘Investment Passport’ for users to invest in stocks listed on NASDAQ, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Chaka had over 4000 assets and indexes from companies such as Apple, Alibaba, Google, the S&P 500 index and many more.
According to Tosin Osibodu, Chief Executive Officer of Chaka, Chaka was created to give local investors access to US capital markets as well as give the global community access to local capital markets.
“Our goal is to provide premium borderless trading and investment opportunities for Nigerian professionals and investors. Chaka facilitates access to assets listed on the Nigerian stock exchange, American stock exchanges as well as global blue-chip companies from 40+ countries around the world,” Osibodu said during the launch of Chaka.
Risevest will benefit from Chaka’s technology stack, web properties and license as in June 2021, Chaka acquired the Securities Exchange Commission of Nigeria’s (SEC) Digital Sub-Broker/Sub-Broker License Serving Multiple Brokers. In July the same year, Chaka raised $1.5M in a pre-seed funding round to enable borderless investments across Africa and deliver digital investments solutions for African businesses.
According to Tosin Osibodu, Co-founder & CEO, Chaka Technologies said “This is indeed a significant milestone for us at Chaka. We see digital investments as an opportunity to boost economic transformation in Africa, and our goal is to use this funding to bring this vision to life. With this capital, we will focus on our goals to build a roster of formidable partners and accelerate our expansion to other markets within Africa. This investment also enables us to hire top talent and integrate more advanced functionalities into our investment and wealth management solutions for businesses.”
Chaka announced it would use the funds to expand its footprints in West Africa to reach more retail investors and attract more foreign players to African Capital Markets and sign up partnerships with asset managers, financial technology firms, and regulators.
For Chaka’s customers, the acquisition means more options.
“First, you have an expanded set of investment options,” said Risevest’s Urum. “Whether you’re a Rise user who wants to choose some specific stocks on your own or a Chaka user who wants better passively managed investment portfolios, you now have access to both worlds. You can look forward to more asset classes, trading options and markets we can enable.”
Urum added that the two firms will double down their efforts to give users a better experience and increase their access to the investment resources they need.
“By leveraging our resources as a combined entity, you can look forward to more educational tools, investment recommendations, and support to help you grow your money and make more confident financial decisions,” said Urum, who is also cofounder of Buycoins Africa, Inc a cryptocurrency exchange in Lagos, Nigeria.
Both Rise and Chaka products will continue to operate independently but the firm will harmonise the experiences and make it much easier to transition from one product to the other.
Rise lets you pick between stocks, US real estate and fixed income and allows its users to spread their risks and tap into different investments all in one place or invest towards a goal such as retirement, higher education, car, home or travel.