The story
Founded by Sven Hagströmer in 1999.1
Avanza was founded in 1999 as HQ.se.
In 2001, HQ.se acquired Avanza and changed its name to Avanza, which became the largest stockbroker in Sweden, with 80,000 active customers.
In 2006, Avanza acquired stock magazine Börsveckan and launched Placera, a free online newspaper. Placera is focused on equities, funds and savings. The two are editorially independent and are grouped under Placera Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Avanza.
During the same year, another wholly owned subsidiary, fund manager Avanza Fonder, was launched, along with their first product Avanza Zero, a completely free-of-charge index fund tracking the OMX Stockholm 30 index.
In 2018, Avanza Fonder launched the cheapest global fund in the world, Avanza Global, with an annual management fee of 0.05%.
As of 17 September 2025, Avanza offers digital trading in about 100 London Stock Exchange–listed companies, priced in pounds sterling with a £1 minimum commission, and plans GBP currency accounts so Private Banking and Pro clients can hold balances and avoid per-trade FX fees. Earlier in 2025 it added digital trading in Spain and Switzerland.
From Wikipedia’s article on Avanza, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7