Financial services firm SoFi announced Tuesday that it has acquired Composer, an artificial intelligence startup designed to give everyday retail investors access to the kind of advanced trading strategies that have traditionally been available only to Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional players.
While commission-free trading has made buying and selling stocks more accessible in recent years, the sophisticated tools used to build and automate complex investment strategies have largely stayed out of reach for ordinary investors. SoFi is now betting that AI technology can help bridge that divide.
The company says its goal is to allow everyday investors — not just financial professionals — to build, test, and automate complex trading strategies without needing any coding background or specialized technical knowledge.
CEO Anthony Noto explained the vision to Reuters: “If you can explain an investment idea in plain English, you can now build, test, and automate it.”
Noto also drew a comparison to how mobile technology reshaped banking, saying, “AI is already a foundational part of investing, and much like how mobile became a foundational part of banking, it will completely transform the industry.”
With the Composer acquisition complete, SoFi says its customers will gain access to thousands of community-built trading strategies and will be able to automate trades all from one platform. The company declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.
The San Francisco-based fintech reported strong growth earlier this year, with membership rising 35% to a record 14.7 million in the first quarter. Adjusted revenue jumped 41% over the same period to a record $1.1 billion.
The push to attract retail investors has become increasingly competitive since the pandemic-era trading surge brought millions of new participants into financial markets. With commission-free trading now standard across the industry and product offerings looking more and more alike, brokerages are fighting hard to differentiate themselves.
Last month, brokerage Robinhood announced it would let customers set up dedicated trading accounts and use AI agents to trade stocks on their behalf through its platform.
Commenting on how SoFi’s customers are handling recent market swings, Noto said, “Members are staying engaged through volatility and looking for opportunities rather than retreating from the market.”
