From a meet-up at the pub to the world’s largest retail investor event. How the Finimize Modern Investor Summit grew into an unmissable opportunity for financial brands to tap into a community-driven event.

2016 – The first meetup

The Modern Investor Summit (MIS) is now the world’s largest retail investor gathering, attracting 20,000 attendees each year. But, like most good adventures, it started in a pub.

‍

Back in September 2016, our daily newsletter had around 50,000 subscribers (it now has over a million), but we wanted to find out more about who they were and why they were reading. So we thought: “Why don't we just invite them for a drink and meet them?”

‍

2016: Daily newsletter has around 50,000 subscribers

‍

And we did, organizing an after-work meetup in an East London pub not far from our office. We were unsure if anyone would come, but over 50 people showed up, filling the venue. The next time, around 70 people attended. Then 100. Then 200. It was clear this was going to be something special. 

‍

‍

2017 – “Brainstorming & Beers”

In 2017, we added “Brainstorming & Beers” to the events program, inviting some of our community to our office to hear their feedback and ideas on the next evolution of the Finimize product. 

2018 and 2019 – Finimize goes worldwide

In 2018, we started doing more and more events around London, but our community was based all over the world.

‍

2018: Daily newsletter has 150,000 subscribers 

‍

People kept seeing events pop up in London and asked: “Will you do events in my country?” So to reach more Finimizers than ever before, we launched the Finimize Community Ambassador program, training community members to host their own events.  Events like the Female Financial Dialogue series, which encouraged an open discussion about finance, investing and careers, with events from New Delhi to San Francisco. The Finimize ambassadors set up the event, found venues, chose themes and speakers, while our small team in London supported by driving attendees to each event. Together we started a global movement to spread financial literacy across the world. 

‍

‍

2019: Nearly 10,000 people attend Finimize events in 35 countries

2020 – Building community during the pandemic

During covid, 52 volunteer-ambassadors from around the world hosted virtual conversations for retail investors alongside industry experts and thought leaders. They hosted over 1,000 virtual events, with almost 70,000 attendees.

‍

2020: Over 800,000 subscribe to our daily newsletter

‍

We kept receiving suggestions along the lines of: “Why don’t you consolidate all these events into one day?”

‍

So that's what we did.

‍

2021 – The Virtual Crypto Summit

In 2021, we hosted our first summit. We focused on the crypto boom and were joined virtually by 10,000 attendees, capping off a year where 70,000 retail investors attended 240 Finimize events. 

‍

2021: 10,000 attend the inaugural summit

‍

To help coordinate everything for the crypto summit, we launched a massive community-driven group: the first-ever verified Discord finance server with 2,500+ members. And Mark Cuban – the tech entrepreneur, Shark Tank star and, it turned out, daily Finimize reader – was the keynote speaker alongside veteran investor and decentralization evangelist Tim Draper.

‍

”Finimize puts on a terrific event. They engage the audience in the chat from the start and guide the discussion smoothly. Mark Cuban and I had a blast talking with the large and well-versed group.” - Tim Draper

‍

Ledger, the all-in-one crypto ecosystem, was the principal sponsor during this first event. Our community offered Ledger a perfect opportunity to connect with crypto-curious investors. And they were able to help build out the agenda for the event with us, and pick speakers to appear on certain panels.

‍

‍"Finimize is the most engaged community we know of. Working with them gives us unparalleled insights into our target audience. We’ve seen a real impact on our brand post-summit. We love working with the Finimize team." - Ledger

‍

The two-day virtual summit featured 11 sessions, 20 industry leaders. Ledger had 14m+ brand impressions across the 8 hours of content, and 42% of Finimizers said they’d consider using Ledger’s services when investing in crypto – an 84% uplift.

2022 – A new era

‍

Coming out of the pandemic in 2022, the Modern Investor Summit was a two-day hybrid event, online for day one and in-person in London for day two. The focus was the “New Era” of investing and we partnered with the likes of Splint Invest, 3Commas, Invesco, TILLIT, Moneybox and OKX.

‍

2022: 15,000 attend the MIS

‍

Speakers included Cathie Wood (CEO of Ark Invest), Sallie Krawcheck (CEO at Ellevest), Wei Li (Global Chief Investment Strategist, Blackrock), and Yoni Assia (CEO at eToro). Across 12 hours of content and 20+ sessions, we covered everything from picking funds vs stocks, to the metaverse, crypto regulation, and investing during a recession.

2023 – Taking MIS to new heights and empowering investors

‍

For our 2023 event we brought in expert speakers including Ray Dalio (Chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund) and Jamie Dimon (CEO of JPMorgan Chase) and the summit once again took place globally online and in-person in London.

‍

2023: MIS has 20,000 attendees

‍

CFA Institute was our Virtual Summit Leader and helped us develop the agenda and panels and received prominent branding across all the summit’s promotional materials.

‍

It led a “How To Find Opportunities In Sustainability” session to showcase how modern investors can help build their wallets and the world at the same time. Its Head of Industry Codes and Standards, Chris Fidler, presented the panel on sustainable investing alongside ESG experts, and shared insights on analyzing and valuing sustainable stocks, as well as how best to integrate ESG into portfolios.

‍

"The summit gave me enormous information about how to manage my portfolio for the year ahead - MIS 2023 London event attendee"

‍

Their session and the wider event also gave CFA Institute the chance to promote their ESG-related learning opportunities to the Finimize community, ranging from the 8-12 hour Climate Finance course to the Certificate in ESG Investing and the new Climate Risk, Valuation and Investing certificate.

‍

In London, IG Group partnered with us as the primary sponsor for our after-party, taking over the event to connect with a group of 200 experienced investors and traders. The partnership also gave them access to our community through a promotional campaign in the six months leading up to the summit, with strategically placed native ads and numerous online events. We also partnered with IG to produce a survey of retail investor sentiment (which we now run every quarter) from across our community.

‍

What made the partnership so great was that IG understood how to position their expertise for our audience, addressing the needs of the community via insightful trading workshops, panels, and fireside chats, while we ensured their brand was front and center. They also ran a booth making themselves accessible for our investor community, all nicely wrapped up with networking and drinks after the main event.

‍

"We were able to measure real impact on our brand among younger investors prior and post the Summit - this is really exciting." – Nick Higgins, Head of Marketing UK at IG

‍

As a result, of our retail investment community:

• 102% more are aware of IG’s services.
• 37% consider IG’s services as ideal to meet their investing needs now or in the future.
• 73% more use IG as their investing service.
• 25% more associate IG with insightful content and education.

‍

2024 – MIS established as world’s largest retail investor gathering

‍

For 2024, we focused on providing practical insights to help investors adapt to changing market conditions, bringing together the likes of Mellody Hobson (President and Co-CEO , Ariel Investments), Erik Norland (Chief Economist, CME Group) and Liz Ann Sonders (Chief Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab). We also put on sessions to help investors learn more about emerging and alternative investment opportunities – from pre-IPO and private markets, to healthcare, collectibles, and even lawsuits.

‍

20,000 Finimizers attend MIS 2024

‍

"I thoroughly enjoy these Finimize Modern Investor Summits … I’m always impressed by the quality of the questions that come in from the viewers so, yet again, job well done." - Liz Ann Sonder

Daily newsletter now has 1,000,000 subscribers

Looking to MIS 2025
‍

2 Days, 14 Sessions, 25k+ Attendees, 25+ Speakers. 

We’re looking to partner with forward-thinking financial brands who want to connect with our investor community in a fresh, meaningful way.

With over 1,000,000 newsletter subscribers and 20,000+ engaged investors expected to attend in-person and online, the Modern Investor Summit is a unique chance to showcase your brand where it counts.

There are a range of ways to get involved – from owning a standout session, joining a panel alongside industry leaders, or going all-in as the Summit Leader with custom branding and multiple content touchpoints throughout.

In the build-up, we do the heavy lifting: helping promote your session, brand, and message to a high-intent retail investor audience.

Your live session will engage 1,000+ attendees in real time, giving you the chance to land your message in the most meaningful way.

You’ll also walk away with a unique piece of content to repurpose, and we’ll continue to showcase your session after the event to drive lasting visibility.

→ 1m+ investors reached
→ 200m+ impressions
→ 20k+ high-intent attendees

Let’s build something that moves the needle.