An early financial services AI startup - acquired by Aberdeen Investments.
An algorithmic investment platform needed a brand that could earn trust with high-net-worth individuals, professionals and investors. We spoke to the target audience directly. The questions they asked weren’t about returns or features. They were about control. Am I in charge of my money? Am I alert to what’s happening in the markets? Does this platform share my attitude to risk? Every fintech competitor was leading with technology. The audience was looking for a relationship.
We built the brand around a single metaphor that emerged during a naming workshop. When IP lawyers ruled out the frontrunner names, a client started searching for alternatives: “Our platform is like Iron Man - a hi-tech suit with a human being in control. An exoskeleton.” Exo survived the trademark minefield. The name captured exactly what the product does: it puts the investor in control, enhanced by algorithmic intelligence. The ultimate co-pilot. The brand experience was designed around three levels of control: Automatic, Assisted and Custom - giving investors exactly as much or as little involvement as they wanted. The logotype was clean and balanced, reflecting the relationship between human and AI. Identity, digital experience and messaging was built to make the investor feel in charge, not managed.
Aberdeen Investments acquired Exo Investing to develop what it called an industry-leading technology solution for investors. That’s the ultimate proof of a brand: not just that customers trust it, but that one of the world’s largest asset managers saw it as the foundation for their own technology platform. The brand turned a startup into an acquisition target by making algorithmic investing feel human, controllable and trustworthy.
Naming
Visual brand elements
Digital customer testing
Broker → Co-pilot
Doubt → Control
Reactive → Proactive
