As some of you may know, many members of our (small but mighty) team at Urvin are from this community – many of our investors too. Many of you started your journey in this sub. Some have been here since inception, and others have joined us along the way, but everyone has echoed the same desire: to build a place that marries professional-quality data with social communities, leveling the playing field for the individual investor… without the big subscription price of commercial services. And while I’m extremely proud of the quality of the data we provide, today I’m here to talk to you about communities. To be more specific, Verified Shareholder Communities (VSC). We soft-launched the full site publicly on May 1st; and along with it, the VSC.
We wanted to build a platform that provides the checks-and-balances that a thriving community needs, while creating unprecedented value for individual investors. From community governance to access restriction, there’s a very delicate balance for how to run ticker-focused communities with determination, fostering collaboration while not alienating any legitimate investors/members. Reddit’s “positions or GTFO” isn’t the easiest notion to refine. But you have to build a verification system to ensure you’re not talking to a sea of bots.
So, we’ve been in Beta developing the VSC and general community framework. We’ve floated the idea to different issuers interested in a more direct relationship with their shareholders like our recent webinar with the Shareholder Services Association, and the product has proven even more intriguing (and beautiful!) than the original vision. Aside from the recurring praise of the design aesthetic, issuers are repeatedly impressed with the groundbreaking VSC we’ve developed. And now, we want U to take it to the next level with us.
To give a quick overview; Verified Shareholder Communities are made possible via connected portfolios. You can connect your broker account via our partners (currently SnapTrade and Mesh – we’re working on adding others right now) to your Urvin account which unlocks VSCs for your connected equities. We've heard a lot of concerns about privacy and security – we take it very seriously. These partners use OAuth flows in our connections with them to ensure that neither we, nor they, can see your credentials. If you want to read more about their security, you can do so on Mesh’s and SnapTrade’s websites.
This connectivity is easy, free, secure, and supports most major brokerages. So you gain access to a personalized experience on the site even beyond communities. This allows us to verify that you’re (i) an actual person and (ii) that you hold a set of equities while also allowing you to remain anonymous, but verified, in the community. That brings up a few frequently asked questions;
- So, doesn’t this reveal the share count?
- For non-DRS holdings, yes. We also support IRAs and retirement accounts, which cannot, generally speaking, DRS, (aside from forming an LLC. I believe there are some great guides here on how to do that.) So we can provide a share count for every issuer with connected accounts outside of DRS. Theoretically speaking, this would expose an oversold float, should that exist. And you wouldn’t even need DRS numbers, (although it’s awesome when companies like Gamestop report them). You don’t need to have every share linked – just more than what exists.
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What about DRS/Computershare?
The moment that Computershare can support it, we will add it! Unfortunately, they simply don't support any tech solution for this at this time. That is certainly a feature we hope to add in the future.- Thanks to the magic of Reddit, we learned yesterday that there is a way to connect to CS! We are working on it as fast as we can, and will roll it out soon. We've also heard you that you want share counts displayed separately if the shares are in CS, and we'll figure out the best way to do that to preserve privacy while creating the most transparency we can.
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Do I have to connect a collection of investments when I create an account on Urvin?
- No! collection of investments connection is only required for access to a VSC. While we encourage connection for a more personalized experience across the site, you can engage in non-verified communities freely and access our data with just a verified inbox site. There’s no cost.
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Can you see details of my collection of investments when I connect?
- We cannot see any of your authentication information or credentials – all of that is managed securely by our partners. On the Urvin side, we can see the positions that you hold – and the resulting VSC membership. This information is shared privately via the 3rd party connections with SnapTrade/Mesh, and your broker. That data is encrypted in-flight and at-rest, and only accessible by our employees on a need-to-know basis.
- Membership is fully automated when you connect your brokerage account. So the system will automatically add you to any related ticker communities you hold in the connected account. You have the opportunity at any time to opt out of VSC community membership – and can rejoin at any time, as long as the associated holdings are in your connected account.
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Are Verified Shareholder Communities directly tied to the issuer?
- At this stage, not as a whole. We do have some issuers on site that are leaning into the vision and taking the reins of their communities, providing a direct line to their shareholders. These are Official VSCs, and will be highlighted as such. The ultimate goal is to have a mix of official and unofficial/peer-to-peer verified communities.
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What happens if I sell the securities from my connected collection of investments, am I still a member of the VSC?
- No. The system cross-references your holdings and VSC membership regularly and your access will be automatically revoked from the associated VSC upon sale.
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Does this cost me money?
- NO! Right now we do not monetize the site, and our plan is to keep most current features free, as well adding to it over time with more and more premium data sets and advanced tools. Our long-term monetization plan is via issuers and by disrupting Broadridge – we really don’t like how they stand between companies and shareholders in virtually every way, and we think we’ve built a much much better way to connect the companies and investors.
We’ve also partnered with Proxymity to help facilitate proxy voting across issuers. Streamlining that process helps keep investors engaged directly with their issuers on the topics that matter most. This community has seen the power retail holds when campaigning for proxy voting. And Urvin has the tools to harness that power and participate in a meaningful way.
And of course, we’re powering all of this with professional-quality data unlike anywhere else. Here’s a sneak peek:
Insider Activity and Institutional Holdings
GME Verified Shareholder Community
I’m sure you will have more great questions, and I’m happy to answer them! I truly think we’ve built something that will help this community expand their toolkits, thus increasing their power and presence as an individual investor.
The community here helped inspire this product, and it’s time for us to finally open our doors and show you what we've built. Thank you all for being a part of this journey with us. It’s only the beginning! We will see you at urvin.money management 💪