Thndr is an emerging force in MENA, who’s team is on a mission to increase access to personal investing. By opening access to the global markets for a growing population of young, tech-savvy individuals, they’re well on their way to accomplishing this.
Thndr's Vision and Growth
Thndr is a digital investment platform designed to simplify and democratize investing. It facilitates access to essential tools and resources, empowering anyone with a phone and an internet connection to invest and achieve financial freedom. The vision for Thndr was born out of the co-founders' experiences with the stock market and working at an investment bank in Egypt.
Seif Amr, Co-Founder and COO, encountered significant difficulties in opening a personal investment account. Meanwhile, Ahmad Hammouda, Co-Founder and CEO, recognized that unique investment opportunities in Egypt were largely inaccessible to the general population but open to the few. Therefore, their shared vision was to leverage technology to create a modern, inclusive investment system accessible to everyone.
In August 2020, Thndr received its brokerage license from Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), allowing it to conduct securities brokerage services. This milestone marked the beginning of Thndr's journey towards becoming the #1 investment platform in Egypt by retail trade volume and value, as of April 2024.
Since its inception, Thndr has achieved remarkable growth and success:
- Achieved a trading volume of $1.8 billion in 2023, an 800% growth compared to 2022
- Increased daily transactions from 1,500 in 2022 to 32,000 in 2023 and nearly 100,000 in 2024 (app.1)
- Over 3 million app downloads, with 500,000 monthly users
Most recently, Thndr expanded its operations into the UAE through their ADGM license. This Category 3A license with retail endorsement from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) allows Thndr to offer direct access to US-listed securities, including stocks, ETFs, and fractional shares, with no minimum investment requirements.
Key Features for Customer Empowerment
Thndr empowers users with a fully-licensed, easy-to-use app and provides educational resources through:
- Thndr Learn: An educational platform covering essential financial knowledge
- Claps: A daily financial newsletter
- Virtual Mode: A market simulation for risk-free investment practice
- Rumble: A platform offering expert financial advice to identify and understand investment opportunities
Through this offering, Thndr helps address the low rates of financial literacy and outdated, expensive investment options in the MENA. As a result, individuals have access to affordable investment resources to build and grow their personal wealth.
Working with Alpaca: Enabling Rapid Growth
Thndr chose Alpaca for its comprehensive offering of US equities. This eliminated the need for them to heavily invest in the underlying infrastructure. This strategic move not only reduced operational costs but allowed Thndr to focus on enhancing its user experience. Alpaca’s Broker API enabled Thndr to quickly build an investment experience tailored to their clients' unique needs.
Alpaca's intuitive APIs and comprehensive documentation accelerated Thndr's development process, enabling the swift delivery of innovative trading solutions to the MENA market. This has allowed Thndr to handle trading operations seamlessly and scale to meet growing demands.
Current Results and Future Goals
As mentioned, Thndr's mission is to open investing access in the MENA region by leveraging technology to offer a simple, barrier-free investing experience. The partnership between Thndr and Alpaca demonstrates and exemplifies how innovative fintech solutions can revolutionize traditional financial systems – providing long-term value to users.
As Thndr continues to grow and lead the market, it remains committed to empowering more individuals, including increasing the number of female investors, and maintaining its position as a leader in the investment landscape of the Middle East.
About Alpaca
Alpaca is a developer-first API brokerage platform that’s raised over $150m 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.
See How We Can Partner Together
Alpaca Securities LLC and Axis Markets BV (“Thndr”) 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.
Please note that this article is for general informational purposes only and is believed to be accurate as of the posting date but may be subject to change.
App.1: Trading figures originally derived from the official reports of the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) website. The figures presented are aggregated in EGP and converted to USD by accounting for the USD/EGP exchange rates and the number of trading days.
