The SelfWealth Ltd (ASX: SWF) share price is up 22% in September to a 1-month high of 38.5 cents but still down 30% year-to-date.
Shares in the investing and trading platform have been hammered by recent announcements including the company's FY21 full-year results and $10 million capital raising.
Despite its recent underperformance, the founder of Datt Capital, Emanuel Datt, told the Australian Financial Review (AFR) that SelfWealth might have what it takes to become the next Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT).
Could the SelfWealth share price become the next Afterpay?
Datt pointed to SelfWealth when asked about any hidden nuggets in the small-cap space with the potential to be the next Afterpay.
"We believe that SelfWealth possesses a lot of the ingredients that made Afterpay so successful, and could prove to be an enormous success looking out over a three-year time horizon," Datt said.
"The company is currently focused solely on the online broking space but has large potential to expand towards offering a suite of financial services across its platform."
"The opportunity is there for the taking and the new management team are executing very well so far."
Datt Capital is also the largest shareholder in the SelfWealth share price.
What's next for SelfWealth?
SelfWealth has laid out a detailed product roadmap that continues to focus on expanding its capabilities in terms of online broking.
In the near term, the company said that it's working on the ability for members to fund their ASX accounts in real-time, a live pricing feature and continuously working to improve the user experience on its app.
Perhaps an exciting short-to-medium term catalyst for the SelfWealth share price is its plans to launch cryptocurrency trading.
The company said that "we will be partnering with an established and secure cryptocurrency exchange to provide access to cryptocurrencies".
"This is off the back of research we've done, including answers from many of you. You want to access crypto, but you want it done in a safe and secure manner. You will be able to trade cryptocurrencies that have been vetted by us first. We will factor in popularity, liquidity and security."
