FEATURE | Q&A
Aydo: investors still need advice, clarity on the multiple operational risks The former team running French structured products specialist boutique HPC IP has reunited to launch Aydo, a new investment platform in France.
“The business itself is an important shift compared to what we have done in the past, which was focused on providing structured products to distributors and clients,” says Teixeira. “We are building a next generation AI-powered marketplace dedicated to alternative investing. It surely has some implications in terms of products, client types, technology infrastructure, etc. It's a very different project.” However, Aydo’s management team also wants to leverage out its experience in structured products distribution and their understanding of “how to convey an idea and deliver products in line with investor’s expectations and risk profile”. “Our structured products background has helped a lot in building our product mix, but establishing a marketplace requires a strong focus and significant investment in technology – our tech development team currently represents more than 50% of our staff,” says Teixeira.
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ierre-Yves Breton, Jordan Sfez and Arthur Teixeira, the three founding members are seeking to leverage 13 years of collaboration and product knowledge “to break down barriers between the financial markets and nonlisted investments”.
“Starting a business is always an adventure and something you want to do with people you trust,” says Arthur Teixeira (pictured), founder and managing partner at Aydo. “That’s probably the most precious asset of all. For us it was a natural process since we have been collaborating for 13 years and have an extremely smooth and efficient decisionmaking process.” The new fintech company expects to have 15 people onboard by Q3 covering different functions such as compliance, sales, technology and product specialists. On the product side, the firm is “going way beyond structured products” and is seeking to target people from the private asset world.
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www.structuredretailproducts.com
“The goal is to become the leading marketplace for alternative investing, which indeed includes liquid alternatives like structured products.” TARGET MARKET Aydo’s mission is to make alternative assets available to the broadest community of professional and qualified investors which will be able to connect to the platform and get access to the “most exclusive alternative investment products and monitor their portfolios”. In terms of the product mix, the new provider will not be offering ETFs or hedge funds. Instead, it will focus on private deals like asset-backed lending, private equity and venture capital (VC) opportunities, as well as structured products. “We are also looking into crypto and blockchain type investments,” says Teixeira. “Initially, our structured products offering will be complemented by private debt and pre-IPO products, which are very complementary. “We think there's a big gap in distribution and in connecting investors with certain niche opportunities that are only accessible to a small number of investors.”
