Motif Witnesses Second Successful Funding in a Month
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Motif Witnesses Second Successful Funding in a Month
Santa Clara: California-based Motif Investing, provider of innovative way to invest in ideas, has raised $20 million in series B funding led by Ignition Partners along with Norwest Venture Partners and Foundation Capital. Earlier this month, they raised their series A round of funding of $6 million. The fund will be used for product development and hiring. Founded by former Microsoft executive Hardeep Walia and Tariq Hilaly, a fund analyst, Motif was founded to provide individuals a new way to invest based on themes. Currently the company is in the stealth mode and emerged as an invite-only beta mode earlier this month. The USP of the company is the focus of their investment, which is an idea rather than a company. It allows the investors to invest in different portfolios of stock that centers around everyday ideas, which may range from cloud computing to democracy in the Middle East. The customization of the stock to meet individual's need is an add on. Tariq Hilaly, Co-founder and CIO, Motif, said that the challenge for most people is that they have no way to map their idea to an actionable investment. Motif provides them the platform to invest in areas and ideas of their choice. Ignition's John Connors is a board member at Motif. He said that he recognized the potential of the company to have a major impact on how people invest. Hardeep Walia, Co-Founder and CEO, Motif Investing, has over 15 years of executive management and entrepreneurial experience. Prior to co-founding Motif Investing, he was the CEO of a medical device startup that he led to a successful acquisition. He spent over six years at Microsoft, where he was the General Manager of Microsoft's $2 billion plus Enterprise Service business. He holds a BS in Economics and Engineering from Yale University and an MBA with Honors in Finance and Information Systems from the Wharton School of Business. He also holds the FINRA Series 7, 63 and 24 licenses. Walia said that the company will focus on a variety of ideas and still modifying its pricing model and minimum investment amount.