Voting is integral to the democratic process. During the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, it felt as though you could hardly go a day without hearing a celebrity or politician urging the public to vote.

Yet, shareholder democracy and proxy voting is a relatively unexamined facet of investing for the average individual investor, not to mention there has yet to be a big celebrity endorsement urging shareholders to vote their proxies. This feels like an oversight when you consider the power the corporate world has. Fortunately, educating investors about their shareholder rights is becoming a hot topic.

Robinhood – a trading platform responsible for bringing millions of new investors into the markets – has made its first public acquisition in Say, a platform that aims to keep shareholders informed and active in the proxy season. Robinhood’s involvement in the ‘meme stock phenomenon’ no doubt shed light on an emerging market, and it released a statement earlier this year testifying to the “power of individual investors.”

Robinwood and Say are not alone in recognizing this shift. OpenInvest, which bills itself as a “sustainable investing solution” offering “value-based metrics including LGBTQIA+ rights, racial justice, disability inclusion, and more,” has been acquired by JPMorgan. Broadridge has also released a ProxyVote app that aims to “make it easier than ever” for investors to exercise their right to vote and “participate in the corporate governance process.”

But, even before the meme stock stir, Tulipshare became the first broker dealer platform to allow retail investors to become activist investors. Tulipshare is approaching retail shareholder activism in a brand new way by using targeted campaigns and shareholder rights while grouping together like-minded investors who want to see ethical and sustainable changes in companies. With this approach, investments can act as the vehicle for corporate pressure where governments fall short or petitions and protests fail. Having raised $12 million in funding, with plans to expand from the United Kingdom to the United States, Europe, and beyond, Tulipshare fronts a trend now being emulated across the industry with companies like Iconik, Tumelo, and Inyova.

The conditions are ripe for shareholder engagement, especially since we are in the midst of a retail investor boom facilitated by ‘Gen-I’ – or ‘Generation Investor.’

But, will Gen-I actually vote their shares? While institutional investors until now have dominated shareholder voting, all the new platforms suggest millennial retail investors are getting ready to vote, too, and their motivations may not be as predictably profit-focused as those from institutional investors.

Knowing all this and considering the general mood of the times, it seems like the whole corporate power structure is about to be radically changed. What the financial sector faces now is a culturally diverse, educated, and switched-on generation of investors who don’t need a celebrity to tell them what to think or when to vote. They’re already engaged and ready to fix the broken system. All we have to do is provide the platform.

Antoine Argouges

Founder and CEO, Tulipshare