Cyprus 4.0: A fast-growing online startup from the Diaspora – Plum

“We have this big difference: We didn’t launch to build another new bank, or to offer another card.

We launched to solve the problem that people find it difficult to devote time to saving and investing their money. They just don’t have time to manage it properly,” says Victor Troukoudes.

“With Plum, you can connect any bank account, and  we start saving and investing the money for you. And we grow your money.”

Plum is an AI platform for savings and investments. The company has 1.5 million users across Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Spain) today, primarily because it does what people no longer have time for – it takes care of their money.

Plum’s founder, Cypriot Victor Trokoudes majored in economics at Harvard, then took an MBA at INSEAD. He started out with a classical move to working for Morgan Stanley in London, but then I joined a payments company called Transferwise (now called Wise) where he became head of International and Banking.

“I joined when it was just starting out with only five people – there were 500 when I left. We started Plum in 2016, then went live in 2017. Our initially small team has grown to 80 people, We opened our Athens office last year, and one in Cyprus this year, and we’re using Cyprus as a base for Europe” Trokoudes noted.

“Although we market via all channels, we’ve built this up largely by word of mouth. A lot of our customers find us because friends or relatives recommend us. We allow people to invite their friends. We do get quite a bit of press, and that helps, but personal recommendations are better, because they generate trust,” Trokoudes points out.

What makes Plum stand out among personal finance websites?

“We have this big difference: We didn’t launch to build another new bank, or to offer another card.

We launched to solve the problem that people find it difficult to devote time to saving and investing their money. They just don’t have time to manage it properly. With Plum, you can connect any bank account, and  we start saving and investing the money for you. And we grow your money,” Troukoudes explains.

But Plum does a lot more, Troukoudes continues.

And then on the other side of the equation, we also look at your bills, and we look to reduce your cost of living. All of this means that the way we position our product is very different, because the focus is on how to make a person have more money through an automated solution. I think that’s a big difference, because a lot of other people build trading platforms, or sites that allow you to invest, but they’re not managing it automatically for you.”

For Plum, it’s not just a question of giving investment advice.

“It’s trying to break through the negative inertia that people have that stops them from doing anything with their money. People just don’t have time to think about these things anymore. Our core demographic is from about 23 to 40, let’s say 40s. So it’s, it’s quite broad. We find that once people start using it, they see catch on quickly, get results that please them, and then tell their friends.”

The website Stash, in the US, provides instruction for investors as well. But Troukoudes says Plum is different

“Stash is stash is interesting, because the difference is that they’re very focused on investing. Right? So their focus is to help you invest and then they recommend stocks or funds. The difference is that we are focused first on saving, and then also giving you the option to continuously invest as well. But we also offer similar investment themes: We have a tech fund, an emerging markets fund, a US fund. These allow people to continuously invest, rather than just giving people like one portfolio, so we want people to have more choices.

You can also save with Plum but not invest at all.”

From the new office in Cyprus, Plum intends to market over the whole of Europe, Troukoudes says.

“We are currently available in Ireland, Spain and France. We are looking at Italy, the Netherlands and Germany next, and we’re rolling out in another five markets in the next quarter. And then by the end of the year, we want to be across the whole of Europe, The idea is to be you know, both in the UK and Europe for now, and then maybe beyond.”

Troukoudes points out that Cyprus is a good place from which to market into the EU.

“Look, Cyprus has a good environment for business, for finding talent, especially in our industry. “We want to hire people that understand online financial businesses, and there’s actually quite a developed industry in Cyprus. It’s the combination of those factors that we think is a good environment to set up a business. And that’s why we chose it. While we do our development elsewhere, in Cyprus we find good talent in other areas, like operational areas and back-office areas. One of the primary reasons we chose Cyrus is that we can find operational knowledge for the back office.”