
The company dub, a copy-trading platform in the U.S., announced a $17 million funding round was completed by a group of venture capital firms and individual investors. The company was founded by 22-year-old Detroit native Steven Wang.
Among the early investors in dub was Detroit Venture Partners, started by Dan Gilbert, founder of Detroit-based Rocket Cos.
According to Wang, dub allows everyday investors to replicate the portfolios of emerging investment managers, famed hedge funds, or elected officials with a single tap. Dub’s affiliated broker-dealer, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and member FINRA, helps facilitate copy-trading, a fast-emerging investment practice suited to today’s investor.
“A decade from now, instead of picking stocks, we’ll be picking people to invest in,” says Wang. “It’s already how my generation is investing, with the rise of social media and commission-free investing. Humans are narrative- and fear-driven creatures. Digitally native creators have mastered the art of storytelling and are building fervent communities that leverage social accreditation to guide their investment decisions. With dub, we’re building the creator economy for finance.”
Tusk Venture Partners led the seed round, which also included investment from Robinhood co-founder Nathan Rodland, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Apex Fintech Solutions CEO Bill Capuzzi, former Federal Reserve Board of Governors vice chair and TIAA CEO Roger Ferguson Jr., OneRepublic Front man Ryan Tedder, and several venture capital and individual investors including Detroit Venture Partners. The funding also includes a $2 million venture debt facility provided by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank.
According to Wang, dub “translates the powerful benefits of the social-media-driven creator economy to investing. Individuals gain access to a wide variety of minds in asset management and bespoke investment strategies.”
With the simple-to-use dub app, everyday investors can choose to copy portfolios with the same ease of buying a single stock. Among dub’s launch offerings are several proprietary investments strategies built by former hedge fund managers from firms like Millennium, and others shared by financial influencers with varying backgrounds and experiences.
At 17, Wang left high school to start and ultimately sell a VR company, after which, at 18, he joined Apple working on projects including the Apple Watch. He was then admitted to Harvard, where he spent most of his time on the other side of the table, investing in early-stage startups as a Partner at Dorm Room Fund, only to leave school again to found dub.
“dub’s copy-trading platform opens a new frontier in retail investing. As the first broker dealer to offer copy-trading, they are in a position to offer a truly unique product to investors,” says Nathan Rodland, co-founder Robinhood.