IBS Journal June 2016


47


“WE WANT TO BE THE BLOOMBERG FOR RETAIL TRADERS. THE PLACE WHERE TRADERS


CONVERSE, ANALYSE, GET INFORMATION AND TRADE”


T ell us about yourself


After working together for years to develop financial software for some of the largest firms in the UK, we noticed a large gap in the FX space, and decided to strike out on our own by founding Pelican.


The idea was to help traders help eachother, and ultimately build a global trading network for retail traders – which currently does not exist. Trading isn’t an easy game, and a collaborative effort often helps. Traders the world over already like to operate in ‘pods’ by sharing ideas, and posting screenshots of their trades to WhatsApp groups or Skype hang- outs. However, this has led to a very undesirable situation where traders are flicking back and forth between multiple applications to accomplish what is essentially a simple task.


The concept of Pelican is very simple; to bring together the currently disjointed experience of trading and discussing ideas into one seamless interaction – all in real-time.


What’s your business model?


Pelican is absolutely free to download and use. Our day-to-day revenue is based solely around the income we make from trades placed through the platform.


However, the revolutionary aspect of the business model is the significantly lower cost per user acquired; Pelican’s true integration of a WhatsApp-style chat function lends itself naturally to traders building their own groups and networks. The real value to traders soon become clear when they are part of a thriving chat group of their own.


We hope to enjoy rapid growth without the eye-watering marketing investment that has become commonplace in the trading space. We firmly believe we can convince traders to create groups, and invite friends and colleagues to use Pelican. Our Beta testing period was successful in this aspect, and if those results are replicated in the coming months, our cost of client acquisition will be substantially lower than all our competition. In turn, if we can attract high quality traders, our margins will be very attractive indeed.


What sets you apart?


Pelican is the first time that a network infrastructure has been established specifically for retail traders. Never before has a retail trader been able to create a private group, discuss ideas and then trade all on the same platform – all in real-time. The barriers to entry into the space Pelican now occupies are high. We are the first (and to the best of our knowledge) the only business to successfully apply to the Financial Conduct Authority for permission to


provide a social trading service to the retail traders. The permissions required by the FCA to operate a platform such as ours are very onerous – you have to be RDR compliant and be authorised to manage investments.


Given that this is a highly competitive industry, we won’t be resting on our first mover advantage. Now that Pelican is up and running, we have a long list of truly revolutionary features that we will be rolling out in the near future – all of which enhance the benefits of interacting with other users.


Who or what inspired you to set the company up?


It was clear to us that previous endeavours to ‘socialise’ trading had missed the mark by quite some way. Fundamentally, traders want to make their own decisions and execute their own trades. However, by nature, they are a curious bunch. Traders still want to peer over the fence to see what others are doing, and converse in private groups as they do now.


We noted that other platforms believed social trading was all about copying another trader. But if you talk to any trader they do not want to outsource decision making to someone else – you go to Fidelity for that. We also realised that you have to get the tone right with traders. If they feel a platform leans too heavily on gamification or is too fluffy, you’ll never attract a high quality


www.ibsintelligence.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52