The Story of Rise
“Build greatness in others and you’ll see what true greatness is.” — Iyinoluwa E Aboyeji
Today we announced the rebrand of our company and product from Cashestate, to Rise. And, for the sake of those of you who supported us and signed up with Cashestate and those who are looking to join them, we thought it important to explain the ‘why’.
When we started Cashestate to allow Nigerians invest in US real estate, we always wanted to extend into asset classes, especially US stocks. Any proper investment portfolio should have a diversified offering around both risk levels and asset classes to make sure when one asset shifts, the other will support it. Creating a brokerage app, a sort of Robinhood clone was one of the obvious ways to offer stocks and indeed was the direction we were initially tempted to go. But after spending months talking to our users about what they wanted from us, studying the problem we were trying to solve and how best to give users a product that worked, that made money for them (not just us) and made their lives materially better in the long run, we chose a different way.
The result is the all new rise.capital, the new brand we announced today and the new product we are getting ready to go live with (you can get early access here).
Rise offers users:
- Choice and Diversification
The world is big and there is more to profitable dollar investments than just stocks. With Rise, you have access to US stocks, US real estate, fixed income and soon, even venture/startups, with more assets on the way. You can select one asset or you can spread your investments across multiple asset classes. When one asset class is down, the others can hold up, making your overall investments less risky and more profitable.
2. Access
All minimums on Rise are just $10. That’s roughly N3,600 at today’s rates — a decent lunch for some of us. Or a cab ride. Or weekly pocket money. Or airtime money. We worked really hard to bring the minimums down to something many people can afford. You have access to all the same global investments and dollar returns that already wealthy people have access to, at a price that allows you to start investing right away and grow at your own pace.
3. Consistency and Cost Control
The best investment plan is rational, consistent and disciplined. Brokerages behave like casinos, forcing you to trade on exciting news of the day and charging you commissions each time you do. That leaves them making money while you rack up losses. With Rise, you set an amount to invest and your desired frequency, and it continues to withdraw and invest that amount for you every day, every week, or every month based on your selection. That’s consistency. And by investing a little at a time over a long period, Rise balances out periods of low and high prices to give you a great overall cost of purchase and improved returns.
4. Superior Research, Personalization and Automation
To invest well, you need to engage in thorough and deep research, analysis and valuation of each investment and that takes a lot of time. By using Rise, you just need to set your payment and you don’t need to worry about doing all that work yourself. Our team of financial analysts, plus our analytical software and algorithms combine to provide superior research and investment selection. Over time, as it understands your risk appetite and you add your long term goals, Rise will recommend an asset mix for you. You can focus on doing what you love, making money for yourself and your family and living your best life while we makes sure your investments and wealth continue to, well, rise. You can also participate in our investment club where we share our insights, knowledge and advice with you, absolutely free. We’ll even throw in some benefits that save you money so that you have more to invest. Seriously.
5. Protection from Nigerian Economic Shocks
No matter the returns you’re making in naira, an inflation rate of 12% and periodic devaluation means a lot of those returns don’t stick. The devaluation in 2016 wiped out more than 5 years worth of investment returns pretty much overnight. Considering our trajectory, I don’t think that’s the last one. Your investments in Rise are immune to all that. You can invest for retirement. Or a wedding. Or school. Or for your children. Knowing that 10, 15, 20 years from now, your investments and their returns will be there and their value will be sound. They’re not like domiciliary deposits or domestic dollar funds. They can’t be messed with, or mass converted or anything else. They are completely out of reach to anyone except you or the ones you’ve authorized.
For our previous users, Rise is an objectively better product. Your plans will default to whichever you originally invested in, whether it’s real estate or stocks. You can now choose to invest in any of our expanded choices and you’ll get a much more nimble, responsive and up-to-date experience. And very importantly, our commitment is to keep getting better.
When we were brainstorming our new name, we bounced around several ideas that captured our desire to help you win, to use our resources and skills to build a product that helped you grow your wealth and genuinely made your life great. Because we believe that, just as the quote above said, we can only be truly great if we help you become great. The ethos we all seemed to settle on was the popular one: “we rise by lifting others.”
With Rise, you have a team on your corner so you don’t have to deal with money decisions alone. You have a team you can talk to, learn from and rely on. You have a team you can trust. With a team like that, both you and your finances can not stay down for too long. It’s time for you to Rise.
With love,
Eleanya Eke
CEO, Rise.
