Building a full-featured investment platform is no small feat. It requires a generous budget, a team of experts ready to guide and develop the solution, and a clear plan for designing, building, and integrating the new platform into your current business. In this article, we will go through all the stages of building an investment platform and what it takes to come up with a solution like this.
Your first question might be: "Why do I have to build it? Isn't there an investment platform I can integrate into my current systems as a SaaS?" Yes, there are multiple options available on the market. However, it is challenging to find and integrate a one-size-fits-all solution, given that different regions of the world comply with different regulations. The platform of choice might not align with your country's regulations. Additionally, there is a significant personalization factor. Building your own investment platform allows you to develop a solution fully customized around your technology stack, expertise, unique functionalities, vision, and your team's capabilities.
The upfront cost might be high when building from scratch, but in the long run, you are likely to save money because the recurrent subscription model of ready-to-use platforms will eventually catch up to the building cost. Furthermore, you will have a scalable and customized platform that can always be updated based on your current needs. To maintain your competitiveness in the market, you won't need to rely on an external company to update their software.
Is building better than buying it? Maybe. It depends on your vision and strategy, but if you decide to build it from scratch, this article will guide you through the entire process. We will cover everything from understanding market needs and defining your MVP to scaling your platform and ensuring its success.
Market research is the foundation of building a successful investment platform. Start by analyzing industry trends and growth patterns. Look at the historical data to identify emerging trends and predict future growth areas.
For example, in a report published by Statista, the total transaction value in the Digital Investment market is projected to reach US$2,791.00bn in 2024, with an expected annual growth rate (CAGR 2024-2028) of 5.13%, leading to a projected total amount of US$3,409.00bn by 2028. The largest segment in this market is Robo-Advisors, which is expected to reach a transaction value of US$1,802.00bn in 2024. Geographically, the highest transaction value is projected to be in the United States, reaching US$1,782,000.00m in 2024. Study reports from financial analysts and market research firms to further understand the current market size and projected growth rates.
Examine the demographics of potential users, including age, income level, and investment behavior. This information helps to tailor the platform to the needs and preferences of your target audience.
Why are demographics important? Let’s look at the investing habits based on age – for example, younger investors typically have a higher risk tolerance and focus on growth-oriented assets, whereas older individuals prioritize capital preservation and income-generating investments.
To create a platform that users will adopt and value, you need to understand their needs and pain points. Look for common challenges users face with existing platforms, such as complex interfaces, lack of personalized investment advice, or inadequate customer support.
Identify the features users find most valuable, such as real-time data analytics, easy-to-navigate dashboards, or comprehensive educational resources. This information will guide the design and functionality of your platform to ensure it addresses these specific needs and pain points.
Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing investment platforms. Identify key players in the market and study their offerings, pricing models, and customer reviews. Look at their unique selling points and see where they excel or fall short.
This will help you understand the competitive landscape and identify opportunities for differentiation.
Focus on areas where competitors may be lacking, such as user experience, customer support, or specific investment tools. Use this analysis to develop a strategy that leverages your strengths and addresses the gaps in the market, ensuring your platform stands out to potential users.
Before fully developing the platform, it’s a good idea to start with a MVP (Minimum Viable Product). This way, you can onboard users to test it, attract investment enthusiasts to try your platform, or give users something to use while you finish the main platform.
Launching an MVP for a small group can help you build your first brand advocates, grow a community around your platform, and gather useful feedback from real users.
When defining the MVP for your investment platform, focus on essential features that will provide immediate value to users and validate the product concept. Here are the core features and functionalities to consider:
Even though nowadays these are considered core functionalities it is up to you whether you are going to implement all the features listed above or not.
Our advice is to review the data gathered from your market and competition analysis and determine which features define your investment platform and are essential for offering a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to the public.
Once the core features and functionalities of your MVP are defined, the next step is to prioritize them based on user feedback. This ensures that the most critical and impactful features are developed and refined first, aligning the product more closely with user needs and expectations.
There are multiple ways to assess feedback from your users, but probably the most modern approach and one of the best would be to create and leverage a community built around your platform. You can come up with various methods to incentivize them to test your platform and use the features available while they receive some value in return. If done right, this select group of people can become your brand advocates and help you create a strong foundation for your platform and your brand.
Now to gather information you can have Q&A sessions, you can have a feedback section inside your community, you can come up with surveys and interviews and also you can track your users’ action on the platform. After you managed to collect enough data, you can use it to further add more functionalities to the platform or refine the old ones by using a data-driven approach.
Use personas and use cases to guide the platform’s evolution. When developing an investment platform for financial advisory companies, you should prioritize features that enhance advisor-client interactions and help with portfolio management.
Depending on your target persona and the needs of your clients, focus on essential functionalities. Some examples of essential functionalities are robust reporting tools, personalized portfolio generation, and compliance tracking to ensure advisors can efficiently meet client needs.
Maintain a balance between complexity and usability—while advanced features like real-time analytics and automated workflows can add value, the platform should be intuitive enough for advisors to use without extensive training, therefore the UX of the platform should be thoroughly planned and assessed based on your persona and their specific use cases.
As the advisory firm grows, ensure the platform can scale to support additional clients and more sophisticated financial strategies, all while maintaining a user-friendly interface.
Now that you finally assessed the core functionalities of your MVP and your team fully understands what you want, it is time to start the initial phases of building an MVP – choosing the right tech stack.
When choosing the right technology stack for building your investment platform, it’s essential to clearly explain to your technology team or partner what you want to achieve, in simple terms. Based on your requirements, they will recommend a tech stack that helps lay the foundation and successfully develop your project.
Keep in mind that the technologies mentioned below are not mandatory—you can always choose a different framework or tech stack, and you don’t need all of them for your platform to function properly. Assess with your team which technologies are relevant to your project and which are not before moving forward.
However, be cautious when selecting your tech team or partner for a project like this. The wrong tech team or partner might mistakenly choose an inappropriate tech stack, which can lead to several issues down the road. Using an outdated or incorrect tech stack can affect the overall timeline and budget of your project or result in a platform that lacks customization options or modularity.
There are several integrations required for your investment platform to function properly. For example, you’ll need to integrate with a bank’s API so users can transfer or withdraw money between the platform and their bank accounts. If your system is not compatible with the bank’s technological requirements, you may face delays until a solution is found to overcome this challenge.
Here are some technologies to consider discussing with your tech team:
Frontend Technologies:
Backend Technologies:
Server and Hosting:
APIs and Integrations:
Security Technologies:
Development Tools:
Adopting an Agile development methodology ensures flexibility, continuous improvement, and user-centric development. Here’s how to effectively implement Agile:
We recommend adopting an Agile development methodology because it ensures flexibility within teams and has proven to deliver effective results in shorter time frames.
However, other methodologies can also be considered for a project like this—for example, Amazon's Working Backwards methodology which focuses on starting with the desired customer experience and working backwards to develop the product.
Agile methodology involves breaking projects into smaller sprints, using the Scrum framework with ceremonies like daily stand-ups and sprint planning, working with cross-functional teams, and continuously improving the product based on user feedback.
Now regardless of the methodology you are going to use, it is very important to integrate some essential security measures.
When building an investment platform, integrating robust security measures is essential to protect sensitive user data and maintain trust.
Secure authentication, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strong password policies, adds an extra layer of defense.
Data encryption, both in transit and at rest, ensures that sensitive information is protected from unauthorized access.
Access control, through role-based access control (RBAC), restricts sensitive data based on user roles, while regular security audits help identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Compliance with financial regulations like GDPR and PCI DSS further strengthens the platform’s security by enforcing data protection standards.
Even though they are applicable to most projects, these security measures are considered essential because they represent the gold standard in the technology industry.
Without them your system will be prone to bad actors, and you really don’t want that, especially when you’re building an investment platform or any other financial solution.
As with any development, testing and quality assurance are holding an important role in the technology industry, especially for fintech companies and banks.
Before deploying any new functionality, it’s essential to ensure that all aspects have been thoroughly tested and quality assured to prevent user activity from being disrupted by bugs.
On an investment platform, users rely on you to provide accurate data and timely information, which they use to make important transactions and investment decisions.
Your users have skin in the game, and encountering bugs in the middle of a profitable trade can cause frustration, leading them to abandon your platform and return to their previous investment service provider.
Here are a few steps to ensure your platform meets your users' expectations:
Unit Testing:
Integration Testing:
End-to-End (E2E) Testing:
Performance Testing:
Security Testing:
User Acceptance Testing (UAT):
Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD):
Although this list is quite general, it can serve as a good starting point for your testing and QA processes. We highly encourage you to discuss with your team and develop a comprehensive strategy for testing and QA, considering any additional steps that may be necessary beyond the examples provided above.
This day will be a rollercoaster of emotions for you and your team. Your vision, your team’s responsiveness, and the execution of your launch strategies will define the success of your launch.
It can be helpful during the launching process to have a technology partner that already has experience with launching an investment platform, so it can guide you through this stage and help you to achieve your technological goals faster.
Here are the steps of a successful MVP launch:
Start by identifying key user segments, such as retail investors or financial advisors, and engage them through personalized outreach, such as emails or LinkedIn messages.
Host educational webinars and share success stories from early users to establish trust and credibility.
Participate in niche online communities on platforms like Reddit or specialized financial forums to subtly introduce your platform and gather interest.
You can establish a presence on Twitter, where there is a large community of investors eager to engage and become early users of your platform. Use the platform to communicate with your audience and host themed spaces focused on building new functionalities and educating users about investments.
Create exclusive beta tester groups where early adopters can provide feedback and engage with each other. Offering incentives like early access to premium features or referral bonuses can also help grow your community and keep users engaged.
Beta testing allows you to see how real users interact with your platform and identify necessary improvements.
Select testers who represent your core audience, such as individual investors or portfolio managers, and focus on real-world scenarios like setting up portfolios or executing trades.
Prioritize gathering feedback on data accuracy and platform performance and respond with frequent updates to show you value user input.
Keep communication channels open with your testers to catch any ongoing issues as you refine the platform.
Choosing between a soft launch and full launch depends on your platform's readiness.
A soft launch targets specific groups, such as financial advisors, allowing you to monitor performance and address issues before a wider release.
In contrast, a full launch involves a comprehensive marketing campaign and requires ensuring that your support and onboarding processes are ready for a larger user base.
As your investment platform grows and gains traction, it's essential to add advanced features and functionalities to differentiate your platform and maintain strong user retention, especially for financial advisors who require high-performance tools for managing their clients’ portfolios.
Advanced Analytics and Reporting
Automated Investment Strategies
Advanced Risk Management Tools
Personalized Investment Advice
Integration with External Services
These functionalities have been implemented by other platforms, but you can create your own unique approach by combining the best features used by competitors. For instance, while some platforms excel in delivering robust portfolio analysis and trading options, others may offer more specialized tools for financial advisors managing long-term investments.
Instead of adopting all features, assess what strengths and weaknesses exist in other platforms and determine what makes sense for your platform. Most importantly, gather continuous feedback from users—financial advisors who are using the platform on a day-to-day basis. Their insights will help shape the platform’s future and ensure it stays aligned with their needs.
Engaging with your user base and nurturing a community around your platform will significantly impact the quality of feedback you receive. This feedback can be the key difference between a platform that thrives and one that struggles. By listening to financial advisors, you can ensure that your platform evolves into a solution that not only meets but exceeds their expectations.
To ensure your investment platform can handle growth and deliver a smooth user experience, focusing on performance optimization and scalability is crucial. Cloud solutions like AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure offer flexible infrastructure that automatically scales with demand, allowing your platform to handle increased traffic without interruptions.
Implementing caching solutions, load balancing, and database optimization techniques can further enhance performance by reducing server load and speeding up response times. Regularly monitoring system performance and conducting stress tests will help identify bottlenecks, ensuring your platform remains responsive as it grows
With the platform optimized for performance, the next step is to focus on enhancing user experience and interface design to ensure it is intuitive and user-friendly.
There are multiple advantages to a user-friendly interface. It ensures a smooth onboarding process without interruptions, encourages users to add extra security options to their accounts, and allows investors to make informed decisions by accessing their favorite tools and functionalities intuitively.
Prioritize responsive design to provide seamless experiences across devices and ensure accessibility features are in place to cater to all users. Regular user testing and feedback collection can help refine the design and identify areas for improvement. Simplified workflows, clear visuals, and personalized user dashboards will create a smooth experience, encouraging users to return and engage more deeply with the platform.
Once the user experience is streamlined, it's important to ensure that your platform is also compliant with the necessary financial regulations.
Compliance with financial regulations is non-negotiable for an investment platform. It protects both the platform and its users, ensuring legal operation across different regions.
KYC and AML processes ensure that users' identities are properly verified, reducing the risk of fraud and illegal activities. Automated solutions can streamline the verification process, allowing users to quickly upload necessary documentation while ensuring compliance with regional regulations. Regular monitoring of transactions and real-time alerts for suspicious activity can further enhance the platform’s security.
By prioritizing KYC and AML compliance, you can build trust with your users and protect the platform from regulatory issues, therefore minimizing risk.
With KYC and AML protocols in place, the next focus is ensuring compliance with broader financial regulations to maintain platform integrity.
From a technical standpoint, using data analytics for marketing involves collecting, processing, and analyzing data to gain actionable insights. This process starts with integrating various data sources—such as CRM systems, social media platforms, and website analytics—through APIs and ETL tools, centralizing the data in warehouses like Amazon Redshift or Google BigQuery for efficient querying.
Once collected, the data is cleaned and transformed using tools like Python or SQL to remove errors and standardize formats. Metrics such as daily active users (DAU) or conversion rates can then be calculated, providing valuable insights into marketing performance.
Descriptive analytics helps understand past data, while diagnostic analytics examines patterns and relationships, offering insights into conversion rates. Predictive analytics, using machine learning models like decision trees, helps forecast future trends and behavior.
Visualization tools like Power BI play a key role by enabling the creation of interactive dashboards, custom visuals, and automated reports. These visualizations help teams monitor campaigns and track ROI in real time. Power BI also supports data governance through role-based access control and auditing features, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR or CCPA.
Power BI enhances the sales and marketing process, making it an indispensable tool for real-time data analysis and reporting in marketing.
Luma developed a new version of their core investment advisory business platform - Creation Hub, merging several distinct versions of the existing products into one modern platform. This new investment advisory platform better meets existing customer expectations and enhances Luma's business development opportunities with new clients and in new markets.
Luma Financial Technologies needed to replace its existing platform with a more scalable solution. One of the goals was to transition from a Java and Angular.js stack to a Java and React stack while keeping the current platform functional for clients. A development team was assembled to work on the new platform and maintain the existing one, leading to faster development, improved platform stability, and smooth collaboration with Luma’s internal teams.
The platform eventually introduced new functionalities, including a Product Marketplace, a Creation Hub, a Learning Center for training financial advisors, a Lifecycle Manager, and Annuities. These became essential tools for their financial consultancy clients.
Luma Financial Technologies has been a key player in the financial advisory sector for nearly a decade. Their platform enables broker-dealers and advisors to source, configure, compare, and price structured products and annuities, all while complying with the regulatory and workflow requirements of financial institutions. Luma’s solutions are fully customizable, supporting everything from client education to compliance monitoring.
Luma needed to launch a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a more scalable platform while keeping their current solution operational and up to date. The primary challenge was transitioning from the outdated tech stack to a modern one without disrupting the services their clients relied on daily. Ensuring that both systems remained functional while developing and testing new features was critical for maintaining business continuity and avoiding any breakdowns in service.
ITMAGINATION provided a dedicated nine-person development team consisting of:
The team worked in close collaboration with Luma’s internal developers, focusing on building the new scalable platform using a Java and React stack while simultaneously maintaining the existing application to ensure uninterrupted service. This approach enabled the testing and rollout of new features, such as the Product Marketplace, Creation Hub, Learning Center, Lifecycle Manager, and Annuities, all of which became essential tools for Luma's financial consultancy clients.
The future of investment platforms is exciting, with cutting-edge technologies redefining how financial advisors and clients interact with their investments.
Here are some of the key trends we believe will be shaping the future:
Imagine a world where onboarding new clients is smooth, secure, and lightning fast. AI is already making this a reality. By assessing financial records and ensuring regulatory compliance, AI-powered onboarding reduces manual tasks and speeds up the entire process, giving clients confidence in a secure, transparent system. With less friction, financial advisors can focus on what truly matters—building relationships and delivering top-tier advice.
Searching for financial products doesn’t have to be complicated. Thanks to natural language processing (NLP), users can now search for products in a way that feels as natural as chatting with a colleague.
Brokers and B2B clients can simply type in everyday language, and the platform will instantly deliver the information they need. This intuitive feature makes financial products easier to find, boosting user satisfaction and increasing platform engagement.
Managing support tickets can feel like an endless task, but AI is stepping in to change that. With AI-powered ticket assistants, routine queries are automatically categorized and routed, freeing up support teams to focus on more complex issues. Imagine drastically cutting down response times and improving customer satisfaction across the board.
The result? Happier clients, smoother operations, and a support team that's not overwhelmed by repetitive tasks.
Generating detailed financial documents can be time-consuming, but with AI, that’s no longer the case. Platforms are now using generative AI to create financial product documentation in minutes, not days. This reduces the workload for advisors and ensures that clients receive accurate, up-to-date information whenever they need it. More efficiency means more time for personalized client interactions, which is a win for everyone.
The future is personal, and investment platforms are no exception. Advanced analytics, powered by AI, allow platforms to offer deeply personalized financial strategies based on each client’s unique behavior, goals, and risk tolerance. Advisors can provide recommendations that are more targeted and effective, building stronger client relationships and delivering better results.
As we look to the future, investment platforms will transform into all-encompassing financial ecosystems, offering financial advisors a powerful set of tools to better serve their clients. Beyond traditional stock trading and retirement planning, we’ll see these platforms integrating a broader range of services, including alternative investments like real estate, private equity, and peer-to-peer lending. Advisors will also need to cater to the growing demand for sustainable investing, with more clients seeking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) options and other socially responsible investments.
Additionally, the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) could revolutionize the industry, providing clients with more direct control over their assets and reducing reliance on traditional banks. Over the next decade, investment platforms will blur the lines between advisory services and broader financial management, enabling financial advisors to offer more holistic, personalized solutions that cover every aspect of their clients' financial lives.
The market is evolving constantly, with new innovations and technologies emerging every day. To stay ahead, your platform needs to be built with flexibility in mind, allowing you to quickly adopt new tools and features that will better serve your clients.
The future of investment is about adaptability. A platform designed with scalability and future growth in mind will allow you to integrate the latest technologies effortlessly, ensuring you’re always providing the best experience for your clients.
If you're thinking about how to make your platform future-ready, we'd love to explore how we can help. Feel free to reach out and schedule a call with our team of experts to discuss how we can help you achieve your tech goals.
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