Shoyo: what is it?

The best way to understand how it works is to compare it to a passport. In France, when you want to invest in a financial product, you have to show your credentials, according to regulations established by the AMF (the French securities regulator). First, by proving you are who you say you are (by sending in a copy of both sides of your national identity card, plus a second piece of ID), then by demonstrating your financial status by filling out a questionnaire that describes your holdings and also proves that you understand financial investments and have clear goals… Investors have to fill out new questionnaires every time they want to make a new investment, which is very time-consuming. Shoyo simplifies the process by recording your financial information in a digital “passport” that’s secured through a blockchain. The platform where you plan to invest will automatically receive all the details it needs. If any questions on one platform’s questionnaire differ from those on the questionnaires of other platforms, Shoyo will adapt your answers thanks to a special algorithm.

So it saves time, like Google Connect or Facebook Connect?

Yes, it’s the same principle as the “Google button”: it lets you avoid repetitive and tedious multiple registrations.  The real advantage, though, in addition to time savings, is that it lets you separate “profile details” from your desire to invest. Many potential investors end up not investing because at the last minute they are confronted with authentication hurdles. With Shoyo, they can complete their profiles whenever they wish, and then not have to deal with this again.

This makes sense for an individual investor, but what about a company?

At Happy Capital, a lot of our work involves encouraging web users  to check out the projects for which we are raising capital through crowdfunding, in hopes that when they learn more, they will want to invest in these projects. It’s heart-breaking when, after all these efforts, investors give up at the last minute because they don’t want to have to jump through the many hoops of the financial-identification process. Shoyo takes care of this particular problem, and the concrete result is a better conversion rate!

Are there some features that still need to be improved?

For the moment, Shoyo doesn’t work on smartphones. Even though most investments are placed via computers, a smartphone app would definitely be a plus. Another issue is that Shoyo needs to be accepted everywhere, or at least on as many investment platforms as possible, and it hasn’t yet attracted the critical mass of users it needs to be really successful. But we expect that to change!

Antoine Dubas (H.05)
With a degree in computer engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and a diploma from HEC Paris, he worked in consultancy and management control before being named head of development at Happy Capital, a crowdfunding platform, in 2017. He also participated in the development of Shoyo.

Published by