In this live episode of the Connector Podcast recorded at the Trends Investment Summit 2023 in Brussels, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Thomas Ketchel, CEO and co‑founder of Curvo. Curvo is presented as a fintech that lets young Belgians start investing in diversified index funds with as little as €50. Thomas explains that his motivation stemmed from personal experience trying to invest after the success of his first startup, Sutori.com, and from the lack of suitable, low‑cost products in the Belgian market. He describes the regulatory and licensing complexities in Belgium, which led Curvo to partner with Dutch investment firm NNEK to obtain the necessary infrastructure and licensing. The conversation covers Curvo’s value proposition – a tech‑first, educational platform that appeals to a young demographic (average user age 34) and uses funds from major asset managers such as Vanguard and BlackRock. Current metrics are shared: about 960 members and roughly €2 million in assets under management, with short‑term goals of €10 million AUM and 2,000 customers in Belgium. Thomas also reflects on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, noting that Curvo’s deposits are held with Rabobank in the Netherlands and were unaffected. He offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: focus on solving a real problem and validate it with customers. Finally, he explains how listeners can become Curvo clients via a partnership with the Belgian digital identity service ItsMe, enabling account opening in five to six minutes. The interview ends with networking intentions at the summit and a thank‑you to the audience.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
This episode is proudly sponsored by the Trends Investment Summit 2023, Welcome to the Connector Podcast, and today we are streaming live from the Investment Summit in Brussels, and I have a special guest with me. His name is Thomas and he runs his own company Curvo. Thomas, can you explain a little bit, what do you do?
Yeah, sure. Hi Koen, so I'm Thomas Ketchel. I'm the CEO and co-founder of Curvo, and Curvo is the easiest way for a young Belgian to start investing from €50 in index funds.
Super interesting. And what inspired you to create Curvo?
Yeah, so it's me and my co-founder, Jorian Bronsma. We went to school together in Brussels and we did a first startup around 10 years ago called Sutori.com. And when we started earning money with that company, we really started to think about what we're going to do with our pension and start investing our money and putting it away.
So early already thinking about your pension.
Yeah, exactly. And we kind of realized that a lot of products in Belgium weren't really suited for what we wanted.
Mm-hmm.
And then when we wanted to invest ourselves in the DIY format through a broker, we found that it was actually very difficult in Belgium because there's a lot of tax considerations and asset allocation isn't a super easy topic either. And so that really made us realize that it's quite complicated to start investing and to do good investing well. And that's really why we said, okay, let's create a product to solve this pain.
Nice. That's like the dream of starting a company. There's a problem and you try to solve it.
Yeah. And I think what's helpful is that it's a problem that we have. So it's very easy to have a solution for a problem that we're facing.
Now, obviously, for the listeners, I can see you, but if I may ask the indecent question, how old are you, Thomas?
Me and my co-founder, we're both 34 years old.
Yeah, so pretty young.
Yeah.
Hey, what have been your challenges? Because one of the things you said, it was difficult to, to explore and to get a license into Belgium. But were there any other challenges that you had, and how did you overcome them?
Yeah, so, you know, naively we thought, okay, we're 2 guys, we have a first startup, we're gonna launch this new product, all we need to do is go to the regulator and they'll say, yeah, this is a great idea, you're gonna help a lot of young Belgians invest money, but the reality is that it's extremely regulated and it's very difficult to launch a product. We made the decision to partner with an investment firm in the Netherlands called NNEK. And that was a real challenge in order to find a partner who shared the same vision and who also had the technical capacity to handle an app like Curvo. And so that was a real big challenge, is finding that partner and then launching the product. So, Fortunately, we managed to get everything in order, but that was really the biggest challenge, was actually getting the product to launch. So it took us, yeah, just over 2 years.
Oh yeah, I can imagine. And well, NNEK, it's a Dutch company. They're pretty big in the Netherlands. What was in it for them?
Yeah, it's a good question. We should maybe ask them. But for them is that they shared our vision. I think for NNEK, they've always had a lot of customers in the Netherlands and a lot of different partners there, but they still didn't have really an access to a Belgian market or European market. And I think partnering with Curvo really enables them to grow their client base.
Would that then be your value proposition, is that you actually can scale investments for youngsters around Europe? Is that the ambition slash Yeah, definitely.
So obviously we've only launched in October 2021, so we're still growing in Belgium. But we've seen that the problem that we faced and a lot of our customers face is actually a European problem. And so there's a lot of different markets.
There are young people everywhere, right?
Exactly. And they're underserved and they're not given the right kind of products to put their money away every month. So for us, For us, we're super excited to kind of scale what we've done across Europe.
Well, we're here at the Investment Summit, which is a very traditional business, if you want. Virtually all the buy side of Belgium is here present at this event. And that's a marketing strategy that they have. They distribute to their own clients. But how would that then be different for you, Curvo, actually reaching out to the younger generation? What is the trick?
Yeah, it's funny. So I see, you know, I'm just looking around the hall now. When I see our partners, I see Vanguard, BlackRock. We use primarily their funds. And so I think why they appreciate Curvo and what we're doing is that we really are reaching a younger clientele. Like our average age, I think, is 34 years old. So it's our age of our customer base.
I'm glad you say our age. My age is beep.
And I think that's what they see. They see that we're able to reach them because we're offering know, a very tech-first product. It's very easy to use. Um, and I think that's something that a lot of asset managers, you know, do struggle with, is that technology point and then reaching a young audience.
It's funny that you say it like this. Is it the tech that draws the youngsters or is it the product?
I think it's the story. I think that's the most important part. It's the way, you know, not really the how of investing, but more the why. Like, why should—
Educational, if you want.
Exactly. And I think that's a lot of the issues with where we faced ourselves when we went to our bank to kind of put our money away and like put it invested for the long term is that they didn't really speak to us in the way that I understood what they were talking about. And I think that's the big difference is that we're just communicating it in a very clear, educational, and informational way.
Okay, makes sense. And what does the future hold for you guys?
Yeah, so super excited. Like at the time of recording this, we're at 960 members. We have around €2 million in assets under management. And so it's grown a lot in the last year. And so for us, it's just getting to, you know, that €10 million mark, which is a good target for us, and then getting to 2,000 customers in Belgium. That's really our goal for the next year.
Super. I wish you all the best, of course.
Yeah, thanks a lot.
Maybe jumping a little bit back because earlier you said that this is your second venture, so I can call you officially a serial entrepreneur. So what would be an advice for anyone starting a company, maybe especially towards the youngsters?
Yeah.
Since this is the topic of today.
No, I think it's, it's a good question. I think the main thing that we've learned from building our second company now is that we— you got to solve a real problem. And I think that's really the, the main thing is that you got to speak to people, you got to figure out what is the actual problem, and then can you provide the best solution for it. And I think that's really driven our first company, but it's also driven Curvo enormously.
Well, maybe it's a question that is a little bit off again, but earlier in our conversations today, you spoke about Silicon Valley Bank, and you said that you were very closely connected to them. What was your experience, and how did you feel what's happening now?
Yeah, it's very topical. Yeah, so obviously, you know, when we— so our first company, Sutori, we moved from Belgium to the States. And so opening up a bank account in the United States as a non-American was very difficult because obviously we didn't have a lot of the documentation that they needed. However, we had an American company and we just set it up and Silicon Valley Bank were actually very helpful for us. So they provided us with all banking services. And then a lot of our early investors also banked with Silicon Valley Bank. So they've always been a very good partner for technology startups. And so it was, yeah, really sad to see everything that had happened. But fortunately, you know, the UK, the UK and the US government have taken action and everyone's deposits are protected. And I'm happy to say that we got access to our account as well.
Oh, good.
So that's great.
Which is a great thing because that could have caused a tremendous avalanche within the financial industry, but specifically for fintechs.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, but we're fortunate, you know, with Curvo, we obviously our deposit account of Curvo members is Rabobank in the Netherlands. And so it wasn't affected at all by any of the Silicon Valley banks, only the obviously the financial markets, which are still—
A lot of product placement today, Thomas. Do you get extra points for this?
I wish. I hope they'll listen to this.
Exactly. Well, that's, uh, that's our job, right? Are we here today at the Investment Summit? Uh, what brings you here and what do you— are you expecting to get back today from the summit?
Yeah, so, um, obviously thank you for the invitation and thank you for allowing me to speak on this podcast. But I think for us primarily—
Pleasure.
Yeah, what we're looking for is to, yeah, meet people in the industry. So obviously Vanguard, BlackRock, I've mentioned them already.
But also you had to get a product placement.
But also the other fund managers and then the other companies who are working on, you know, solving specific problems. I just think it's a great networking event.
Totally agree. Last but not least, I mean, there's a lot of not young people around here, but if they're listening to this podcast, how should they become a client?
Yeah, so it's very easy to become a client with Curvo. We have a partnership with It's Me. So if you're listening in Belgium, You can just download the app from any of the app stores and then press that It's Me button, and then you can start your account opening with Kovo. And you should be able to open an account in about 5 to 6 minutes.
Brilliant, brilliant. Thomas, I would like to thank you so much for being in this podcast. It was a real pleasure, and I wish you all the best today at the event, and hopefully we'll meet all of our objectives today.
Thank you very much.
Cheers. Bye-bye.
Bye.
Thank you very much also to the listeners, and please stay tuned for more news about fintech on the Connector Podcast. Thank you so much.
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