In the bustling landscape of Pakistan, Elphinstone stands as a beacon of financial empowerment, offering a gateway for the country's burgeoning middle class to unlock their financial potential. Co-founded by Farooq Tirmizi and Uzair Mahmud in 2020, Elphinstone addresses a critical pain point faced by Pakistanis — earning in American dollars but struggling to save and invest with them.
About Elphinstone
Prior to being Elphinstone’s CEO, Farooq Tirmizi spent over a decade in the financial services industry. While working on Wall Street, he observed the stark contrast in the accessibility to sophisticated investment products in the United States versus its challenges to Pakistanis.
Driven by a passion to simplify investing for his fellow citizens, Farooq launched Elphinstone in 2020. In 2021, Uzair Mahmud, a visionary with a bias for cutting-edge technology, joined forces with Farooq to further amplify Elphinstone's mission as their CTO.
Elphinstone remains obsessed with solving a single problem: help simplify investing for Pakistanis so wealth creation can be a simple matter of “set it and forget it”. The company’s values are deeply rooted in long-term thinking, prioritizing the financial interests of clients over short-term revenue targets, and a vision for the company to endure beyond the lifetimes of its founders.
Unlocking the US markets with Elphinstone's App
Elphinstone's US app offers Pakistanis the opportunity to invest in US stocks and ETFs in two distinctive ways. The platform provides advised portfolios tailored to clients' risk preferences and offers Shariah-compliant investment options.
Additionally, Elphinstone empowers users with self-directed investing, allowing them to trade individual stocks and ETFs based on personal preferences.
Pakistani freelancers, equipped with Payoneer or Wise accounts, can seamlessly fund their Elphinstone investment accounts and withdraw funds either to their dollar accounts or back to their rupee accounts in Pakistan.
Choosing Alpaca: Speed and Innovation
Elphinstone's decision to partner with Alpaca was driven by their startup-friendly approach, responsiveness, and speed in both onboarding and compliance processes.
The collaboration began in late October 2022 after Farooq Tirmizi met Alpaca’s team at Money 2020 in Las Vegas. The two companies signed an agreement in early November 2022. Within four months, Elphinstone's team, led by Uzair, built and launched their high-functioning, consumer-facing app.
Utilizing Broker API
Elphinstone, initially a Registered Investment Advisor, found freedom in the Broker API. It allowed them to create a fully branded, customizable user experience with a fully realized service offering.
Even as Elphinstone continues to scale, the reliability of the Broker API remains unwavering, ensuring the security of clients' funds.
Alpaca’s Broker Dashboard provides instant visibility into various aspects of Elphinstone's operations, like fund flows, trade executions and more. This has been vital for Farooq and Uzair in facilitating organizational tracking and regulatory filings to ensure compliance.
Integration and Results
Since their launch, clients have executed 6-figure trades instantly, establishing Elphinstone's credibility. The portfolio rebalancing and automated investing tool have been crucial in automating the investment process, with approximately 55% of clients making multiple contributions.
Further, Elphinstone's customer acquisition costs have seen a significant decrease due to their seamless user experience built on Alpaca's infrastructure. Word-of-mouth marketing has become the most powerful driver of growth thanks to satisfied customers.
The Elphinstone and Alpaca partnership exemplifies how innovative fintech solutions can bridge gaps in traditional financial systems, offering accessibility and long-term value to Pakistani investors. As Elphinstone continues its mission, the collaboration with Alpaca stands as a beacon of transformation in the Pakistani investment landscape.
About Alpaca
Alpaca is a developer-first API brokerage platform that’s raised over $120m in funding. Alpaca offers stock trading, real-time market data, and end-to-end brokerage infrastructure through modern APIs. Alpaca is backed by top investors in the industry globally, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Eldridge, Positive Sum, Elefund, and Y Combinator. Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
Let's See How We Can Partner Together
Alpaca Securities LLC and Elphinstone, Inc. (“Elphinstone”) are not affiliated and neither are responsible for the liabilities of the other.
All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk it does not assure a profit, or protect against loss. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities, or other financial products. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.
Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities or open a brokerage account in any jurisdiction where Alpaca Securities are not registered or licensed, as applicable.
