As the novel coronavirus continues to keep consumers inside their homes, startups that offer digital-only products are experiencing a wave of new customers and engagement. 

“The social distancing that’s taking place lends itself perfectly to our business model,” said Kerim Derhalli, CEO of the stock trading app Invstr. “It creates a massive opportunity for any business that is online versus any business that has a physical footprint.” 

For startups like Invstr, social distancing and market volatility are creating a unique circumstance in which consumers are looking for new ways to deal with their finances. For many consumers and small businesses, this means more engagement with digital platforms. 

In addition to its stock trading features, Invstr offers educational modules, practice investing with fake cash through its “Fantasy Finance” option, and social networking through messaging and interactive Fantasy Finance leagues. According to Derhalli, the number of fantasy leagues has increased by nearly two-thirds since March 3, and social interactions like posting, sharing and chats have doubled since late February. He said the company acquires about 1,000 new users each day and converts about 10% of those to the subscription product at $3.99 per month.  

Because Invstr focuses on younger consumers who are just learning how to invest, the company’s Fantasy Finance option and social interactions are attractive to students who are away from school during the health crisis according to Derhalli. 

“One of the first things young people are going to do when they are sent home from school is play a game,” Derhalli said. “People are playing the game intensely. Whether they’re making money or whether they’re losing money, they’re learning something from the process.”  

See also: Stock trading app Invstr adds mobile classes to attract more clients

With the market volatility, Derhalli argues young consumers can learn how to cope through the company’s practice investing feature, and the online lessons and social network are more appealing than stock trading apps from competitors that lack these features. He said the company plans to offer the subscription model to investors for free in the near future during the crisis. 

Other companies are also seeing more customers explore online offerings due to the economic downturn and a desire to avoid physical branches. The small business lending marketplace Become, for example, said it has seen about a 25% increase in businesses visiting its website since the start of the coronavirus crisis. Co-founder and CEO Eden Amirav  said a down economy means small businesses are looking for new funding, and many are concerned about the health risks of visiting physical bank branches.  

“Going online is safer than waiting in a real line,” Amirav said. Although many of the lenders on its platform are tightening their risk models, and approval rates are going down, Become is hoping the increased exposure to its site will help its business in the long term.  

According to Vijay Raghavan, senior analyst of digital business strategy at Forrester Research, apps that feature educational components could see a surge during a recession.  

“Investing by nature is complicated, and I expect interest in platforms like Invstr to increase during the next economic downturn after more first-time investors suffer economic losses because they didn’t really know what they were doing,” Raghavan previously told Bank Innovation.  

The Banking Automation Summit, which takes place from June 1-2 in Miami, is a unique opportunity to share insights, trends, strategies and best practices on back-office automation in financial services with the industry’s leading practitioners. Register here.