Rally, a fractional alternative investing platform in collectibles, is stacking up its C-suite. The startup has tapped former Robinhood executive Nili Moghaddam to be its first general counsel.
The appointment comes on the heels of Rally hiring former Disney and ESPN executive George Leimer as its CEO.
Moghaddam officially started in January and previously served as Robinhood’s Head of Litigation & Investigations and before that was a federal prosecutor and corporate litigator at two global corporate law firms. Moghaddam describes Rally as a company that takes collectible assets, securitizes them and offers fractional shares in them with an aim to “democratize” investments.
“Investors who otherwise can’t necessarily afford the underlying asset, or either way, just want a piece of it, get to come in on our platform and buy that piece,” Moghaddam explained. “And not only get to enjoy the benefits of owning that, but also hope to appreciate the gain from the appreciation in the underlying asset.”
But why did she leave Robinhood for Rally? Moghaddam said it was to seize the opportunity of becoming the general counsel of the company, which was the most logical next step. Also, she gets to continue to work with Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher who sits on Rally’s Investment Advisory Committee.
“For me, like Robinhood, [Rally is] a trailblazing fintech company,” she said. “It was the first to securitize and offer fractional shares in collectible assets. And like Robinhood, it did so with the mission of democratizing access to investments that were only available to the wealthy before.”
Rally has over 200 assets on its platform and has at least one new offering for investors every day. The New York-based company says there are at least 100 assets trading on its platform at any time. In January, more shares were traded on the platform than in all of the fourth quarter of 2020.
Rally will offer investors next month a unique collectible, the Staples Center floor from Kobe Bryant’s last game, signed by Bryant. Some recent offerings include a $300,000 Triceratops “Prorsus” Skull excavated in Hell Creek, North Dakota and a “Topps PSA 10 1979 Wayne Gretzky Rookie Cards worth approximately $800k,” according to the press release.
In other recent news alternative investment platform news, Public.com has raised $220 million in a Series D funding round, raising the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion. The round was raised from some notable investors like Tiger Global, The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC, Will Smith’s Dreamers VC and YouTube star Phil DeFranco. It was also raised from existing investors Accel, Greycroft and Lakestar as well.