Gamified and social trading platform Ayondo gets $4M from Luminor Capital

Ayondo, a service that lets users trade stocks using real or virtual money by tracking the movements of top traders, has secured S$5 million (US$4 million) in funding from Singapore-based private equity firm Luminor Capital.

Headquartered in Germany, Ayondo recently set up shop in Singapore and faces competition in the region from TradeHero, a similar service that recently expanded to China and raised US$10 million. At this moment though, TradeHero does not offer users the ability to trade in real money.

Singapore has potential to become a fintech hub, given it is one of Asia’s top financial centers. However, we have not seen many fintech startups that have gone past the series A stage. But while Ayondo probably won’t have the same impact that Rocket Internet brought to the ecommerce sector, its presence could result in a transfer of expertise into the region and create a livelier fintech scene.

Singapore does have a lively group of Bitcoin startups though, but the cryptocurrency’s long-term viability remains in doubt.

Luminor invests in companies worldwide in the natural resources, healthcare, consumer, and infrastructure sectors. It is a partner in the Singapore MedTech Accelerator, one of two appointed by the Singapore government to grow the medical device industry in the country.