A seedling in the orchard

Plum’s story begins very much alongside Trokoudes’. After growing up in Cyprus and moving to America to study at Harvard, he began his career in finance at Morgan Stanley on the trading floor. Not even two weeks into his new career he witnessed the biggest economic crash in US markets since the Great Depression of 1929, the 2008 Financial Crisis. Though his job was safe, seeing the chaos ensue firsthand was enough to have a profound effect on the young financier – this was the catalyst that got him thinking about starting something himself.

“At this point, I had already been inspired by a talk from PayPal that I had been to during my studies. It had convinced me that FinTech was the best way to positively impact and revolutionise how people manage their finances,” Trokoudes explains.

From there, he began his new journey by joining a small startup company in London, then called Transferwise, but now better known as Wise. Here he would find great success, heading up international expansion efforts and launching the company across 25 different markets around the globe.

“Scaling Wise was incredible, but I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur of my own. After leaving Wise, I developed and sold for a profit a Point of Sale (PoS) terminal reseller called BlueBird. By 2016, I was still living in London and ready for a new challenge in consumer fintech,” he says.

Despite having an economics degree and MBA, and working in finance for a number of years – even running and selling his own business – Trokoudes realised something; “I still wasn’t that great at managing my own money on the day-to-day.” This train of thought would lead him to discussions with his friend Alex on how to best go about financing, “We decided to do an experiment. I would save as much as I could for a month, while Alex would build an algorithm that would save automatically for him instead.

“At the end of the month, there was a clear result: the algorithm was far more effective at setting money aside. It was a huge lightbulb moment, and the idea for Plum was born.”

Since that idea, Plum was launched in 2017, with just Trokoudes and Alex sitting across one from one another at a desk in Soho. “Today we’re a team of 180+, with offices in London, Athens and Nicosia,” he enthuses.

A blossoming tree

Plum is now a fully fletched smart money app which automates parts of personal finance that people find difficult or just simply don’t have the time for. “Money management can feel overwhelming, so our goal is to make it as simple and accessible as possible so that people feel like they can do it themselves with Plum,” explained Trokoudes.

Plum operates by putting money aside through AI-powered algorithms and rules and then growing it via a range of account options, such as ISAs or investments. “Alongside some of the best interest rates on the market with our easy-access account and Cash ISA, we also offer a range of accessible investments, including mutual funds,” he says.

Plum is now live in 10 markets across the UK and EU, having more than 2 million customers utilising its services. A total number of €3 billion has been saved now through Plum.

Harvesting the good and bad

Whilst there is no doubt that Plum has experienced great success on its journey so far, that doesn’t mean the ride has been an easy one. Trokoudes was open to discussing some of the trials undertaken during Plum’s growth. One key issue stood out above the rest for him: “All fintechs work within a highly regulated framework, which can be challenging when you’re trying to do something new and innovative,” he explains. “Getting officially regulated by the FCA was a major milestone in the early days. I’m really proud of the way we’ve still been able to move fast and break new ground within the regulatory space, cementing our reputation as a trusted financial institution over time.”

On the flip side, with every bad fruit comes a good one, and Trokoudes has been thrilled to see so many great highlights along the way as well. “Launching our Cash ISA this year was huge for the company. We already had a stocks & shares ISA on Plum, but by expanding our range of tax wrappers to savings, customers could benefit from high interest rates without taking on as much risk. The response has been phenomenal, not just from current customers but from new customers too.” For Trokoudes, it has been phenomenal to see just how many people are exploring Plum, and seeing all the different options they have to grow their money.

He also shared what he feels is one of his favourite parts of the job: “A personal highlight for me as well is taking the whole team on our annual Plum trip each September. We go to Greece for the weekend, spend time together, and celebrate our successes as a team. It’s a Plum institution and one I hope will continue for many years to come.”

Spreading its roots

Plum isn’t going to sit idle with its success so far, Trokoudes and the team at Plum have some ambitious goals for the future! “The EU will be a big focus for us over the coming year. We recently launched ETFs for our European customers and we’ll be looking at more local options that will help people with their saving and investing,” he says.

Trokoudes also mentioned what’s in the pipelines at Plum, with the team developing “something very special” for its customers, centred around AI. “I can’t share much at this stage,” he teases, “but it’s looking very exciting!”

By Harry Fowle, Associate Editor at Startups Magazine

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of Startups Magazine. Click here to subscribe