It’s like Twitter, but for the stock market. The inventor of the “cash tag,” StockTwits, is announcing some big changes.
Armed with an additional $2 million in funding led by Social Leverage, Ian Rosen, co-founder of Even Financial and former general manager at MarketWatch, will be taking the helm as CEO. StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon will be moving into the executive chairman role.
After serving as an advisor to StockTwits, the team thought that Rosen’s media background and business savvy would help them accelerate growth and further monetize the platform.
“We want to expand the audience wider and deeper and add some premium features for the most engaged users,” said Rosen.
With about 1.5 million monthly active users, StockTwits currently attracts an audience of young professionals, with 60% of its users under 44. The team believes they can build out content, such as video, that would increase engagement.
They also hope that their platform, which provides real-time sentiment of the stock market, can continue to provide value to hedge funds and other investment firms which pay to leverage StockTwits’ API.
The “data business is doubling this year and we are focused on widening the top of the brand funnel with some new ideas,” said Howard Lindzon, founder and executive chairman.
StockTwits has also developed key partnerships with investment services, including Robinhood, by integrating the social media platform with market trading.
“The vision of the business is being able to take action based on the signal that you’re getting,” said Tony Conrad, partner at True Ventures, which invested in StockTwits. “There is deep intelligence in the stream, which can be better packaged and distributed to broader audiences, both on and off platform.”
Founded in 2008 and based in San Diego, other StockTwits investors include Foundry Group and IA Capital.