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societal media changed everything , from word consumption to shopping . Now , Dubthinks it can do the same for invest through an influencer - drive marketplace where exploiter can follow the trade of top investor with a few lights-out . Think of it as TikTok meets Wall Street .
Founded by 23 - year - former Steven Wang — a Harvard dropout who began investing in second grade with his parent ’ thanksgiving — Dub is betting the hereafter of investment is n’t about blame stocks but pick people . The app allows users to follow the strategy of trader , hedging funds , and even those mimicking mellow - profile politicians . alternatively of making individual trade decisions , Dub user can copy entire portfolio .
The concept has strike a chord . Dub has already surpassed 800,000 downloads and raised$17 millionin seed funding — with a new cycle seemingly in the deeds . Less clear is whether Dub can avoid the pitfalls of previous fintech startups .
Retail investment has acquire dramatically over the past two decades . The days of $ 7 trading commissions and clunky brokerage interface were blow aside roughly a decade ago by mobile - first platforms like Robinhood that invited masses to sell for free . At the same time , societal media is remold how people , and particularly members of Gen Z , make financial decisions .
As a Harvard pupil during the pandemic — one who was swap from his hall way “ because you could n’t really do anything at school ” — Wang get along to think these two trend , retail investment and influencer - driven determination - making , were on a collision course . Between the GameStop saga , Elon Musk ’s power to “ move the Dogecoin and Bitcoin markets with every tweet , ” and the great unwashed ’s willingness to “ really follow ideas and individuals to a whole new point , ” Wang decided to drop out in 2021 and set off building Dub .
mighty now , the chopine ’s average user is between the ages of 30 and 35 , says Wang , though New York - based Dub is clearly finding its way in front of an even young audience . In recent weeks , this editor ’s 15 - year - old has asked more than once about “ induct like Nancy Pelosi ” after marinating in Dub ads on Instagram .
Pelosi is n’t in person trade on Dub ; it ’s just a monger on the platform mirror her divulge moves . Still , the theme has becharm fire . “ Nancy Pelosi is up 123 % on Dub with real working capital , ” says Wang , “ and we ’ve made our customers zillion of dollars since that portfolio was set up on the political platform . ”
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Dub is n’t free . Wang was determined to generate revenue from the get-go , and Dub does that today through a $ 10 - per - month subscription model . Wang says further that some “ top ” portfolio on the political program charge direction fee and Dub convey a 25 % cut of those fees .
In the meanwhile , Dub has scaled in part through organic emergence . “ Lord who are good traders on the app are incentivized to bring their hearing , ” sound out Wang , whose parents immigrate from China and who raise up in Detroit .
Dub is also investing aggressively in advertizement , leaning heavy into Meta ads in particular to acquire users , admit on Instagram . “ We ’ve been really lucky where I believe the broader American population really believe there are other people out there that have an edge over them when it get along to the investing cosmos , ” says Wang .
The question now is whether Dub will follow a similar route as other fast - growing fintech startups , many of which have plant themselves in the crosshairs of regulator . Robinhood disrupt finance by clear trading free , but it also face regulative scrutiny in the lead of its 2021 IPO , ultimately ditch a feature that shower substance abuser withdigital confettievery fourth dimension they made a barter .
Dub articulate it ’s not bad to avoid the same mistakes . The fellowship spend more than two age exploit with FINRA and the SEC before launching , ensuring its model complied with fiscal regulations . “ We did n’t just sail ordinance at Dub — we embraced it , ” Wang says . ( Like Robinhood , Dub is a amply licence broker - dealer . )
A vainglorious distinction , argue Wang , is that Dub is designed to civilise users , not just encourage blind speculation . The platform expose risk tons , risk - adjust returns , and portfolio stability metric function to help investors make informed decisions , he say .
He intimate it ’s safer for investors than Robinhood . Says Wang : “ I have a peck of esteem for what [ CEO ] Vlad [ Tenev ] has done in making trading destitute . But at the end of the day , realise it super well-fixed to trade without expert guidance , without pedagogy , is really just gambling for the broader population . ”
To underscore his peak , Wang point to the decision of Robinhood — along with Coinbase and other exchange — to make the meme coin TRUMP available for customers ahead of President Donald Trump ’s inaugural . While it ab initio surged in price , its price has plummeted since . pronounce Wang , “ I consider fundamentally the inducement are just misalign between these big platform that are public society now that take to make money ” and that “ generally ” their customers have “ probably lost money . ”
( Worth note : In a freestanding , late conversationwith Robinhood ’s Tenev about Dub , Tenev proposed to TechCrunch that copy trading could become of greater pastime to regulators and that Dub may not yet be under the “ magnifying glass ” because of its comparatively pocket-size size . )
Either way , not everyone is betray on Dub ’s visual modality . The biggest rap againstsuch platforms , says critics , is that stock picking underperforms passive investing over the longsighted run , with written report depict that most actively managed funds give way to beat the S&P 500 .
Further , say Wang , there ’s a understanding that actively do hedge investment firm like Citadel are thrive . “ If you take care at what the radical moneyed can do , they ’re give their money to Ken Griffin of Citadel , [ because ] they ’re consistently commit up non - correlated returns class after twelvemonth after year , ” he say .
If one more broadly “ look at the ontogeny of the hedge fund blank and the asset direction space , ” remain Wang , “ there ’s a reason why it ’s growing . It ’s because they are build money for their customers . ”
