Trove builds technology that allows brands to take control of their resale marketplaces, deepening customer loyalty and generating new profits.
The company provides white-label technology and end-to-end operations that power circular shopping for premium brands such as lululemon, Patagonia, REI, Nordstrom, Levi’s, Eileen Fisher, and Arc’teryx.
Trove enables brands to take back items from customers’ closets while maintaining control of their brand equity and owning their customer experience, data, and relationships.
Rooted in a commitment to sustainability, Trove aims to create a world where all consumers have access to better products with less waste. In 2021, Trove was ranked #268 on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies.
Trove has also built a simple micro-investing app that allows users to invest small amounts in more than 3,000 Nigerian, American, and Chinese stocks, bonds, and ETFs.
The startup’s platform was built to solve issues around the accessibility of securities investment, and allows Nigerians – and soon all Africans – to participate in the global economy and buy shares in international firms.
How it Works
Getting Started
Trove is currently available on iOS and Android. First and foremost, they would require your Bank Verification Number (BVN).
This has been mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria to reduce incidences of fraud and money laundering.
The following documents are also necessary to sign up for Trove:
- Valid driver’s license
- International Passport
- National ID Card
- Voters registration card
NOTE: Proof of address is required when opening an account with an International Passport or if your current address is different from what is displayed on your ID.
Accepted proof of address documents are:
- Bank statement
- Utility bill
- Estate Dues Statement
- Rent Agreement (Address Page)
To get started on Trove, you would need a deposit of $10 or ₦1,000 to get started.
It takes just 3-4 minutes to fill out the account opening form on Trove.com. You will need to upload your address and ID proofs during this process.
Then it takes one business day for your account to get approved by their brokerage partners. All of the KYC documentation and filing are done within this time frame.
Therefore, you can start investing as soon as you have money in your brokerage account.
Once your brokerage account gets approved (you will be notified), you can fund your account by doing a bank transfer from your domestic account.
Trove works with multiple domestic banks to make the process easy and seamless for you and also to get you very low forex rates.
Creating Your Brokerage Accounts
After you create your Trove Account and upload all the required documentation, your U.S. brokerage account is automatically created with DriveWealth LLC., their US partner, and Sigma Securities Ltd or ARM Securities, both SEC Registered stockbrokers.
Account approval typically takes one business day. Once approved, you will be able to fund your brokerage account using either the bank transfer method or a debit card.
Once the funds become available in your brokerage account, typically within 1 – 2 business days, you will be able to make investments on Trove.
Feel free to use the extensive research and support available on the platform to make your investment choices.
Insurance
The US brokerage ecosystem recommends that every investor account should have insurance.
Trove’s brokerage partner, DriveWealth, is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) which currently protects the securities and cash in your Account up to $500,000 of which $250,000 may be in cash.
Please note that this $500,000 does not apply to general losses in the stock market.
SIPC protects against the loss of cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a financially-troubled SIPC-member brokerage firm.
The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash.
A non-U.S. citizen with an account at a brokerage firm that is a member of SIPC is treated the same as a resident or citizen of the United States with an account at a brokerage firm that is a member of SIPC.
SIPC does not protect against the decline in the value of your securities. SIPC does not protect individuals who are sold worthless stocks and other securities. SIPC does not protect claims against a broker for bad investment advice, or for recommending inappropriate investments.
Your investing accounts are held by reputable brokerages and clearing services providers.
The custody of your account is managed by some of the largest banks and clearing firms in the world.
Your account will still be safe and secure with them, independent of Trove’s future, and you will be able to access it and/or move it to another brokerage firm.
Additionally, you also have investor protection on your U.S. investment account through the SIPC.
Taxes
There is no TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) for your stock market gains in the US. So when you make money and send it back to your Nigerian bank account, the broker in the US does not deduct any tax on it.
You will have to pay Short-term Capital Gains Tax OR Long-term Capital Gains Tax in Nigeria, whatever is applicable.
Short-term Capital Gains apply if security is held for less than 12 months.
The US and Nigeria have a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA). This means that you pay tax only once. For the TDS done on your dividend earnings, you will get W-8BEN from DriveWealth.
You can use it while filing your taxes in Nigeria to show that you have already paid taxes on this income. W-8BEN can be issued whenever you request.
Investing Account
Your Nigerian investing (brokerage) account is opened at one of their Nigerian brokerage services partners, Sigma Securities Limited and ARM Securities Limited – both SEC-licensed regulated brokerage firms.
Your US investing (brokerage) account is opened at their US brokerage and clearing services partner DriveWealth – a FINRA-regulated brokerage firm.
It is a licensed carrying and self-clearing broker offering brokerage services to global investors.
DriveWealth is backed by Softbank Group and other leading venture capital firms in the financial services ecosystem. The custody of your US account would be held by DriveWealth.
Depositing Funds
From your Trove dashboard, navigate to “My Wallets” and click on the “Deposit” button available in many places in your wallet. Enter the amount you want to send to your brokerage account.
Likely, Trove has already tee-up with your bank (they have tee-up with most domestic banks to get our client’s good forex rates and to help with fund transfers).
Withdrawing Funds
All you need to do is click the “Withdraw” button on your Portfolio page or inside “My Account”. You will be shown how much money is available for you to withdraw.
This is the “cash” in your account – either uninvested money or generated from sales of securities you, previously, owned.
You can place a withdrawal request and the money will be wired to your domestic bank account.
It takes one business day for the money to hit your domestic bank account. After selling any assets, whenever you want to get your money back, just click on “Withdraw” and all your available cash will be sent over to your domestic bank account.
Investments
They offer a variety of assets that you can invest in, from global stocks to bonds. You can invest in over 4,000 stocks on Trove, including U.S. equities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), American Depository Receipts (ADRs), and Nigerian Stocks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
They also offer Mutual funds from top-tier Mutual fund providers in Nigeria.
Fractional Shares
Their brokerage partner, DriveWealth, allows you to own as low as 0.0001% share of any stock.
A single Apple stock is valued at over $200 as of this article, Google costs over $1,000, Amazon costs more than $2,000, and Pepsi, Nike, and Coke – are all between $100 and $200.
However, with fractional stocks, you could effectively build a diversified portfolio with smaller amounts of money.
Additionally, you get the Voting Right: If you own 34.5 stocks of a company, your voting rights will be for 34 shares. You don’t get voting rights on fractions of stock you own.
Dividend: If a hundred-dollar dividend per share is announced, you will get $3,450. The only limitation is that they cannot give you fractional money so if you own 0.0001 stock and the dividend announced is $5 per stock, you will not be able to receive half a cent.
Research Support
Trove has a lot of data and research available for various kinds of investors.
If you are a hobbyist investor, you will see stocks you might like (based on your investing patterns, the time you spend on various kinds of stocks, your watch list, etc.).
Additionally, If you are an experienced investor, you can make good use of the sophisticated tools that Trove provides.
Trove also gets you various kinds of investment intelligence from sources such as analyst reports, regulatory filings of companies, and breaking news.
Investing Advice
While Trove does not give recommendations to its users, they have quite a few features on the platform that help users shorten their decision cycles.
To help you discover ideas, Trove automatically gives you “Trending Stocks”, stocks that you might like (based on your investing profile), other stocks related to any stock that you may be looking at, stocks with breaking news, stocks buzzing on social media, stocks and ETFs in themes or sectors you may be interested in and a lot more.
Additionally, for every security (stock or ETF), Trove gives decision support indicators and data based on the company’s past performance, analysts’ opinions, and the company’s predicted performance trends.
Founders
Oluwatomi Solanke
Oluwatomi Solanke is Co Founder and CEO at Trove.
Desayo Ajisegiri
Desayo Ajisegiri is the co-founder at Trove and a seasoned leader with 8+ years of strong business and IT strategy, project management, process optimization, data analytics, P&L management, and risk mitigation experience.
She has provided solutions to complex front-office business problems, and she is involved in setting strategic direction to establish short and long-term goals.
Desayo also analyzes competitive trends and financial models to drive improvements in competitive positioning and has led teams (onsite & remote) on multiple transformation projects focused on improving operational performance and business practices.
Additionally, her projects have spanned IT Transformation, Operating Model Design, Process and Project Management, and Risk Mitigation since she has a strong technical background, top-tier investment and finance industry experience, executive presence, as well as excellent communication, interpersonal, and management skills.
She also has a proven ability to build and foster team-oriented, problem-solving environments by applying visionary leadership and entrepreneurial drive.
Opeyemi Olanipekun
Opeyemi Olanipekun is the co-founder at Trove and a Software Engineer with over 10 years of hands-on experience with several different programming technologies such as Java, PHP, JavaScript, and Solidity as well as a variety of frameworks such as Vertx, Angular, React, ExpressJS, Flutter, and Apache Cordova.
Investors & Funding Rounds
Launch Africa, Bank of Montreal, Capital One Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Wellington Management.
Trove announced that it has closed a $77.5 million Series D funding round led by G2 Venture Partners, bringing Trove’s total funding to date to $122.5 million.
Other participants in the round included Bank of Montreal, Capital One Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Wellington Management, and all of Trove’s existing board investors.
The company will use the new funding to significantly expand its roster of brand partners, strengthen its technology and logistics infrastructure, enter the luxury vertical, and service a new customer audience in Europe.
Additionally, Trove recently joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation network, which supports businesses that promote a circular economy across three sustainability principles, designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
Barclays acted as the sole placement agent to Trove on the capital raise.
Main Competitors
Coinpanion: It makes investing in digital assets as easy as investing in stocks with ETFs.
Gemini: This is a licensed digital asset exchange and custodian built for both individuals and institutions.
CoinLoan: It is the Most Advanced Crypto Lending Platform.
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Kezakoo: Story, Founders, Investors & Funding Rounds