Series BMidas

Midas puts Wall Street and Borsa Istanbul in every Turkish pocket

A commission-free mobile investing app giving millions of Turks their first access to Turkish and US stocks, mutual funds, and crypto.

تطبيق استثماري تركي بلا عمولات يتيح لملايين الأتراك تداول الأسهم التركية والأمريكية والصناديق والعملات المشفرة من الهاتف.

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  1. The Bottleneck

    What was broken?

    Ordinary Turks faced high commissions, clunky bank brokerages, and no easy path to US equities — investing stayed an elite habit in a high-inflation economy.

  2. The Move

    Why it worked

    Mobile-first, commission-free trading plus instant free transfers collapsed cost and friction, converting millions of first-time investors during a retail-investing boom.

  3. The Trap

    Battle scars

    Zero-commission economics need scale and adjacent revenue; crypto and derivatives add regulatory and risk surface; regional expansion means new licenses per market.

The problem

In an economy where inflation punishes idle lira, ordinary Turks had almost no good way to invest: bank brokerages charged high commissions with painful paperwork, and buying a share of Apple or even holding equities affordably was reserved for the wealthy. Turkey had no mass investing culture and a stagnant retail market.

How it works

Midas is a mobile app where users open an investment account in minutes, fund it with instant fee-free transfers, and trade Borsa Istanbul stocks with live market data — permanently commission-free since 2025 — alongside US equities, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies. From September 2025 it began rolling out derivatives trading, starting with US options, aimed at active traders.

Pain points

High commissions and account minimums at legacy brokers, no simple lira on-ramp to global stocks, and savings losing value with no productive outlet.

Business model

Zero-commission flagship trading as acquisition, monetised through FX/payment flows, premium market data and trader tooling, and spreads on crypto and fund products — with an e-money licence application (June 2026 reporting) pointing at wallets and prepaid cards next.

Challenges

Commission-free economics only work at scale; crypto and derivatives widen regulatory and market-risk exposure under Turkish capital-markets rules; and the stated MENA expansion means a new licence and playbook in every country.

Funding

  • Raised: $45M Series A (April 2024, led by Portage) then $80M Series B (August 2025, led by QED Investors) — the largest-ever round for a Turkish fintech; total funding over $140M.
  • Valuation: MISSING.
  • Note: profitable since 2023 with 2M users at the Series A; 3.5M investors by the Series B.

Latest — August 2025

On 19–20 August 2025 Midas announced its $80M Series B led by QED Investors with IFC, HSG, QuantumLight, Spice Expeditions and George Rzepecki joining, earmarked for global-standard security infrastructure, derivatives for active traders, and product expansion.

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