Motif Investing has raised $20 million from its investors. The second round of funding was led by Ignition Partners. Also taking part was Norwest Venture Partners and Foundation Capital. The money will be used for product development and increasing the number of employees, according to VentureBeat.

Motif is currently in a beta test and is expected to launch in the autumn, VentureBeat said. So far, Motif raised a total of $26 million from investors. It was founded in 2010. The company has over 20 employees. John Connors, former chief financial officer at Microsoft (News - Alert) and a partner at Ignition, is on the company’s board.

Motif gives investors the opportunity to put their money into portfolios of stocks, called “motifs,” VentureBeat said, explaining that they are “themes” rather than individual stocks.

“A motif can be customized to meet a particular idea,” VentureBeat explained. “The hope is to enable individual investors to be able to trade in a sophisticated and timely way, as if they were professional traders.”

Examples are ideas like “cloud computing” or “democracy in the Middle East,” VentureBeat said.

In addition, Motif has advantages over ETFs (exchange-traded funds.) “It has no management fees, offers full transparency, and it has customization — a customer can add or remove stocks from a motif,” said VentureBeat.

“For the past few years I've been searching for innovative companies that can successfully create new opportunities in the retail investment market,” Sergio Monsalve, Norwest Venture Partners and Motif Investing board member, said in a statement carried on TechZone 360. “The meltdown of 2008 left consumers weary of financial markets and it was clear that change was needed. When I found Motif, I was excited about the team's approach to bringing a new investment platform to consumers who are looking for simple and exciting investment alternatives that provide more customer control at low costs. It was a logical and exciting early investment for us.”

“We aim to fill a desire by investors to invest in what they believe in versus what the financial industry sells. We believe ideas not only move the world, but they also make the best investments,” Hardeep Walia, co-Founder and CEO of Motif Investing, added in the statement. “Our platform will dramatically shift the economics of retail investing and we're working closely with our seasoned team to bring this exciting platform to investors this fall.”

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