Paidax — a social investment platform

Beksultanhozha Anuarov, Almaty, CEO of Paidax, Instagram

How it all began

I am the CEO of the FinTech startup Paidax, which creates an investment platform with social elements and provides access to U.S. stocks. Before founding Paidax, I actively invested not only in the stock market but also in alternative assets such as real estate, cryptocurrencies, and private companies. My team and I have always been interested in democratizing investments by making them accessible to everyone, regardless of their capital or level of financial literacy. Creating a startup arose from wanting to change the investment culture and offer a solution where anyone can become an investor and interact with experienced investors.

From the very beginning, we were fortunate to have support from angel investors with extensive experience in the financial and banking sectors. We spent a year and a half obtaining a brokerage license and developing over ten systems to automate brokerage processes. We focused on creating an app that fosters social interaction among investors. Users can follow popular investors, view their portfolios, and learn from their experiences, which significantly simplifies starting to invest.

Target audience

At Paidax, we bring together beginner and experienced investors through social features. You can start investing with just $1, and there are no brokerage fees for trades up to $100 per month. The app includes financial literacy courses that help beginner investors understand the basics and confidently start their journey in finance.

Additionally, thanks to ITS's Best Execution and Smart Order Routing technologies, our users gain access to the full liquidity of foreign securities listed on NASDAQ and NYSE exchanges.

Incubation programs

We are graduates of the RS Bootcamp acceleration program, the USAID entrepreneurship development project, and the IRA program from Most Venture. Moreover, we are members of Astana Hub and the Astana International Financial Center, which allows us to benefit from tax incentives and participate in various startup support programs.

In addition to the founders' funds, we successfully raised $600,000 from business angels, the Investudy financial literacy academy, and the Most Investors Club syndicate.

Google also supported us with $112,000 in grants for Google Cloud infrastructure.

Challenges

A key challenge we continue to face is gaining user trust. People are often cautious about new investment platforms, and we constantly need to prove that we are safe and reliable.

We are a licensed broker under the AIFC and hold membership in the ITS exchange. The exchange has certified the security of our IT system, which the regulator has approved.

As CEO, I see challenges as an integral part of business processes. The key is to persevere and work toward long-term goals. It’s essential to believe in the idea, learn from mistakes, and adapt quickly to changes.

Achievements

We are proud to have joined ITS and obtained the necessary licenses from AFSA to operate in the market. We have also successfully launched the app, which is already being used by thousands of users.

One of our main achievements is building a stellar team that shares our vision.

We value creativity and innovation, enabling us to adapt quickly to market changes and find new solutions. Collaboration across different competencies within our team helps us develop a user-oriented product and achieve high results.

Plans

We are grateful to our users and investors for their trust and support of the project. We plan to direct investments toward developing new investment tools and enhancing the user experience.

Developing our mobile app and expanding into Central Asian and MENA markets are key parts of our strategy.

Our goal is to make investing accessible and convenient for everyone.