Amsterdam-based zero-commission mobile investing app BUX outperformed during COVID-19, expands to Germany and Austria

With lockdown restrictions partially lifting, things are getting back to the ‘new normal.’ While some businesses suffered due to the pandemic, others that were mostly cloud-based found increased demand for their services. Fintech is one such area that is cloud-based and where companies observed steady growth. One such Amsterdam-based fintech startup, BUX, is now expanding its services in Europe by officially introducing BUX Zero in Germany and Austria. 

BUX Zero now available in Germany and Austria

BUX has been on a recent growth spree. Early in April this year, the company announced a partnership with Tikkie to make trading easier for its BUX Zero customers. Soon after, it became the only Dutch cryptocurrency platform in the Netherlands to offer zero-commission investing. Now, the startup continues its European expansion by announcing BUX Zero service for the German and Austrian market. 

“As the economic landscape continues to change across Europe, and it becomes more difficult for younger generations to prepare for their financial future, young Europeans need better options to help them build wealth,” says Nick Bortot, Founder and CEO, BUX. “With the introduction of BUX Zero in Germany and Austria, we are offering a simplified investing experience for a new generation of investors who are looking for a convenient, inexpensive solution to put their money to work.”

COVID-19 effect: Influx of investment in stock markets

The economy is volatile due to the pandemic and here’s a surge in market activity as new investors flock to buy and trade stocks. As per BUX, many first-time young investors are investing in the opportunity to enter the market. This increased market activity was noted when the pandemic began and since BUX Zero offers investing from the comfort of one’s home, the company observed a jump in the usage of their service. 

People were apparently investing in droves since the company generated significant capital inflows for BUX Zero, with assets under management almost tripling in March. While some competitors observed system failures due to increased activity, BUX Zero was unaffected, thanks to a strong backend broker. In addition, the company successfully onboarded all new clients without long waitlists.

Host of new upgrades

As mentioned previously, BUX recently added a couple of new features and launched a new service. The most recent one being BUX Crypto, which is a platform for commission-free trading of cryptocurrencies. The announcement came soon after BUX acquired Blockport in January this year. The service enables users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly in Euros, which saves investors additional fees on exchange rates from USD.

In the Netherlands, BUX announced its partnership with the well-known payments facilitator, Tikkie. With the partnership, BUX became the first broker in the Netherlands to offer Tikkie as a payment method, and it was also the first fintech partnership for Tikkie. Under the deal, BUX Zero users could employ Tikkie as a payment method to fund their accounts. This enables transferring funds from their bank to brokerage accounts, which with a traditional broker can take anywhere between a few hours to a few days. 

Founded in 2014 by Nick Bortot in Amsterdam, BUX aims to enable easier money management for its users, along with opening up additional avenues for revenue generation. The Dutch fintech has served over 2 million users across 9 countries in Europe. It is backed by Holtzbrinck Ventures, Velocity Capital, Finch Capital and Initial Capital.

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