If I trusted myself with my own money, I would be investing like no tomorrow. I would be allll up in Apple’s business. But I know too well how lazy I truly am, and that I wouldn’t take the time to actually research stocks. Of course, it wouldn’t be that hard to do a little research with stock research tools like YCharts, I just know that despite my lofty ambitions, it would never happen.
But that’s not stopping other, more driven and committed individuals from doing their research, which has drawn a few investors to the stock research space. YCharts announced Thursday that it has raised $3.25 million in a Series B round of funding led by Morningstar, which contributed $2.45 million to the round. The Hyde Park Angels, I2A, and a number of other angel investment firms also participated in the round. The new capital brings YCharts’ total raised to $4.75 million.
Founded in 2008 by former executives from Google, The Wall Street Journal, and Bear Stearns, YCharts makes it easy to get the information you need to make smart investing decisions by providing analysis on a variety of company stocks using 75 different metrics, including revenue growth, market cap, dividend yield, and total returns, among others. The platform provides analysis on more than 5,000 stocks and more than 3,000 economic indicators.
And the users are flocking. In a little over one year, YCharts’ user base has grown to some 400,000 users from 30,000, and CEO Shawn Carpenter tells me that some 90% are high net worth individuals, while the remaining 10% work for brokerage firms.
Users can access the site’s offerings for free, or they can upgrade to a “Pro” account for $39.95 a month. The company also generates revenue from advertising.
“YCharts has developed a compelling way to visually display fundamental equity data that helps investors better understand the financial underpinnings of companies in their portfolios,” said Morningstar CEO Joe Mansueto in a statement. “Its investor-centric approach aligns well with Morningstar’s mission, and our investment in this fast growing company is a natural fit for us.”
Carpenter says that the company is approaching profitability and that he expects the new round of funds to push the company in that direction. YCharts plans to use the new capital to ramp up hiring, scale infrastructure, increase marketing efforts, and expand the scope of its financial research.
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