Sunderland Group, the parent company behind the Mitto Markets brand, has raised £150,000 in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission to modernise investing for the mass-affluent.
Sunderland Group is developing an AI-augmented investment platform that blends institutional-grade trading infrastructure with human expertise, providing retail investors with on-demand, FCA-compliant investment expertise via WhatsApp. The model bridges the gap between low-cost self-trade apps and high-cost wealth management, giving clients instant access to qualified investment managers and seamless execution across global markets.
The Mitto Markets brand enables clients to trade equities, funds, FX, CFDs, futures and options, with on-demand financial advice and expertise, all through an intuitive, low-cost interface built on Interactive Brokers' technology stack.
The round was completed through the FounderCatalyst platform, a cost-effective and rapid fundraising solution for early-stage startups.
The advice gap between self-trade apps and full-service wealth managers has become too big to ignore. It's now a widely recognised pain point for retail investors, further highlighted by the FCA's recently proposed reforms to expand the regulatory scope for firms to better serve this under-served cohort of clients. Having been a private client stockbroker and wealth manager myself for nearly 15 years, I believe a complete overhaul and modernisation is required to tackle this problem.
