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S. Shanker

Mumbai, Nov. 8 Three Indian engineers in Silicon Valley hit upon the idea of starting an online social investing community in 2008 by modelling their enterprise on the lines of Facebook and Orkut.

Sitting in San Francisco, they applied the social networking model to finance and investing. Today StockEzy.com, with 5,000 registered users and over 50,000 visitors a month, offers an online platform for like-minded investors to exchange ideas, share market insights and grow together.

It is by the members for the members. The site managers do not publicise or promote stocks for a fee.

GenNext backs the pack with its proficiency. Credence Capital, an IIM-Lucknow student-run fund lends its expertise to the community forum which collects no charges from its community members.

Credence invests student funds in the Indian equity and derivatives market and has managed to beat the markets in the equity and derivatives fund over the last two years.

Mr Satyakam Gautam, Member, Credence Capital, said, “Credence Capital has been actively investing funds successfully in the markets, as well as advising students about their stock portfolio decisions. Though we wanted to reach out to a wider set of investors, there has never been an organised platform for this. Now, with Stockezy.com, we have the opportunity to guide investors with our recommendations, educate them through newsletters and provide assistance on trading tips/decisions. The platform allows Credence to give back to the community, while also allowing students to gain experience of dealing with real investors and their queries.”

StockEzy.com provides ample “user-generated content” in the form of stock buy-sell recommendations, blog postings, finance and investing related questions and answers, news and videos, all by its community members. Further, the Web site also provides online services such as a portfolio tracker.

The client profile is a mix of experienced players and starters with students and young professionals being frequent visitors. Housewives and traders too use the platform.

There is a rating and evaluation system which indicates the success rate of those who post their recommendations.

Mr Tushar Makhija, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, StockEzy.com, who was in Mumbai recently, said, “We realised that investing had always been social, and was best understood and implemented with the advice of the people you trust.

“With acceptance and fame of sites like Facebook and Orkut, we realised how social networking can be made more niche and targeted towards stock markets. Just as Facebook allows you to find friends across India, now investors can find investing-buddies from all over the globe.”

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