SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Motif Investing, providing an innovative way to invest in ideas, today announced that it received $20 million in Series B financing led by Ignition Partners. They were joined by the company’s two existing investors, Norwest Venture Partners and Foundation Capital. Founded in early 2010 by former Microsoft executive Hardeep Walia and former hedge fund analyst Tariq Hilaly, Motif Investing will use the funds to build out and market its new investment platform. Expected to launch in fall 2011, Motif Investing is now accepting beta users.
“I was fortunate to work with Hardeep at Microsoft and witness first hand his accomplishments and growth across multiple roles and functions. When introduced to Motif Investing, I recognized its potential to have a major impact on how people invest,” said John Connors, general partner at Ignition Partners and Motif Investing board member, “I am excited about the experienced team assembled and their approach to disrupting the financial services marketplace.”
Motif Investing’s new investment platform will enable individuals to invest in different portfolios of stocks — each called a “motif” — that are centered around everyday ideas. For example, motifs can be built around themes and ideas ranging from cloud computing to democracy in the Middle East. In addition, each motif can be customized to meet an individual’s unique needs.
“Had you invested early in an idea like the mobile Internet or cloud computing, you would have realized significant gains,” said Tariq Hilaly, co-founder and chief investment officer of Motif Investing. “The challenge for most people is that they have no way to map their idea to an actionable investment.”
“Our vision at Motif Investing is to empower individuals with an easy, intuitive way to invest in the ideas they believe in,” said Hardeep Walia, co-founder and chief executive officer of Motif Investing, “With this Series B financing and John’s addition to our board, we solidly have in place the resources and depth of experience we need to realize our vision.”
This announcement follows Motif Investing’s July 7 announcement regarding its $6 million Series A funding, which closed in October 2010.
About Motif Investing
Motif Investing is providing a new investment platform that enables individuals to easily invest in ideas. Founded by a former Microsoft executive and an experienced hedge fund analyst, Motif Investing (Member FINRA/SIPC) aims to give power back to consumers who want an alternative to current retail investment opportunities. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, the company is venture backed by Ignition Partners, Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Foundation Capital. Expected to launch in fall 2011, Motif Investing is now accepting select beta users. For more information, please visit www.motifinvesting.com
About Ignition Partners
Ignition Partners, (www.ignitionpartners.com) is a premier private investment group with offices in Bellevue, Washington and Shanghai, China. Ignition Partners' affiliated family of funds includes Ignition Ventures and Ignition Growth Capital in the U.S. and Qiming Ventures in China. The investment group's three categories of funds - early stage venture, growth capital and China ventures -brings together an unparalleled combination of domain focus, functional expertise and global operational experience with partners from leadership positions at Microsoft, McCaw Cellular Communications, AT&T Wireless, Cisco, Starbucks and other industry leaders.
About Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a leading global investment firm that manages more than $3.7 billion in capital. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, NVP has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services, infrastructure, technology enabled services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 50 years and has funded nearly 500 companies since inception. For more information visit www.nvp.com.
About Foundation Capital
Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm driven by the singular goal of changing the world – about leaving it a better place – by building great companies. It is this entrepreneurial spirit along with a deep technical expertise that gives the partners the understanding, perspective, and enthusiasm to help promising companies in their formative stages. Foundation Capital targets innovative opportunities in cleantech, consumer Internet and infrastructure; telecommunications and networking; and enterprise software and on-demand services. Foundation Capital maintains investments in nearly 70 ventures, including Calix, Financial Engines, Netflix and Silver Spring Networks. For more information, visit www.foundationcapital.com.