South African entrepreneur Samantha Rosenberg and her business partner Avion Grey have made headlines by raising the largest pre-seed round in Europe by female founders for their new investment platform called Belong. The recent launch of the start-up followed a successful funding round in which the company raised £2.95 million in pre-seed capital.
With experience in behavioural finance and as a former member of Africa’s pioneering team of applied behavioural specialists, Rosenberg serves as the co-founder and COO of Belong. Grey, who hails from Trinidad, brings experience in finance and investment banking from Howard University and an MBA from Stanford.
The duo aims to democratize wealth-building opportunities through Belong, focusing primarily on professionally employed millennials. With a unique business model, the start-up offers what it purports to be the first-ever opportunity for consumers to opt for a loan to bolster their long-term investment in shares.
The start-up has introduced a novel low-interest ‘Boost loan’ option. This allows a higher initial investment amount, leveraging the power of compounding to accelerate growth and wealth creation over time. Customers repay their Boost loan through small monthly instalments, while their primary investment continues to grow unaffected.
Typically, using leverage or borrowed capital has been an opportunity restricted to wealthier investors. However, Belong breaks this conventional mould with a minimum allowable investment of £1,000, making the offering more appealing to the millennial demographic.
The optimistic response from Belong’s beta customers validates this approach. To date, 84% of users have opted for a Boost loan, all of them making punctual repayments after a 15-month period, thereby boasting a 100% retention rate. This promising early performance indicates high demand and potential for this start-up offering.
