What’s so great about fantasy football?
Is it building a dream team, competing with friends and reveling in their humiliation, or simply checking out your team maniacally all day while you’re supposed to be working?
Now picture all that fun and schadenfreude, but for the stock market.
Copper Street, launched in beta last week, is a stock simulation game, which uses real stock market data to educate millennials about investing. Upon download, the game asks users to build up a portfolio, and fill in the different sectors – technology, automotive, health, etc. – with an appropriate stock. Players then earn points according to the real-life performance of those stocks.
“We believe we are solving a real problem,” co-founder Kevin Callihan told Bank Innovation. “Robinhood had 700,000 people before they even went live, because they were offering a new, easier way to invest. We think there is a step between actual investing and Robinhood, which is helping the newcomers with a no-fear way to learn, before they invest real money.”
The simulator is just the first step for the startup, according to Callihan. “A year down the line, we are planning to allow for actual investments, once the players “graduate” the simulation part,” he said. “Our long-term goal is to become the broker for those kind of investments.” The app, currently available for Apple iPads, grants players a $10,000 of simulated money to start off. It also showcases a leaderboard of the best-performing portfolios.
The Austin, Texas-based startup is wrapping up its seed funding round of an estimated $800,000, with plans to start its Series A round.