To help more young women get acquainted with the world of investing and personal wealth management, two Chicago entrepreneurs are developing an investment platform that’s focused specifically on women's needs.
Founded by Peyton Pritikin and Ari Carter, Cloche Invest aims to be an online investment platform for millennial women. Similar to other investing startups, such as Chicago-based investment startup M1 Finance and Irvine, Calif.-based Acorns, Cloche wants to help the everyday person invest money to grow their personal wealth.
To attract women to the platform, Cloche’s founders said they will offer “socially-conscious” portfolios that invest in women-focused and eco-friendly companies. The founders also made Cloche’s barrier-to-entry relatively low, allowing users to get started with an initial deposit of as little as $5.
“There’s a lot of intimidation and fear around the process of starting to invest, especially when you feel that you’re not as knowledgeable as you could be,” Carter said. “We thought there was a great opportunity to really hone in on the things that millennial women are concerned with and create a platform that really caters specifically to them.”
When users join Cloche, depending on what they are saving for, Cloche will offer them curated portfolios as well as a high-yield savings account option. The founders said Cloche is ideal for people saving for homes, weddings and vacations.
“Most women aren’t beginning to invest until late into their 20s or in their 30s and we’re trying to gear our demographic toward younger age groups so that women as young as 18 feel comfortable and empowered investing their money,” Pritikin said.
Carter, an MBA candidate at DePaul University, and Pritikin, who recently graduated with an MBA from Loyola University, began working on Cloche in February. Now, the startup is one of 10 companies in 1871’s latest WiSTEM cohort, a startup accelerator for female founders. Other startups in the cohort include fertility treatment finance startup emBorrow, on-demand attorney startup LawCo and 401K standardizer Manifest Ledger.
To date, WiSTEM has graduated 120 companies, created 715 jobs and raised more than $20 million, according to 1871.
Cloche's founders said they are still developing the platform and are preparing to launch it by early next year, but have a growing user list of more than 100 people that was recruited through pitch competitions and word-of-mouth. Cloche's business model depends on it charging users a monthly fee, which will likely be somewhere between $1 and $3, the founders said.
“We’re so excited about Cloche, and where it’s headed and all the good it can do,” Pritikin said. “We’re really trying to create a new generation of financially-independent women.”
