Scene+ Invest

Landing Page
Steps
Portfolio
Lessons
Graduation

What it does

Scene+ Invest converts unused Scene+ points into an investments and sandbox. Users allocate their points across real Scotia products such as TFSAs, ETFs, and GICs, that mirror live market performance. They watch their portfolio move, complete lessons about financial literacy to earn bonus points, and after 30 days get a personalized nudge to open a real Scotia investment account with their allocation already set up. Zero real money. Zero barrier. One clear path to becoming a real investor.

How we built it

We built a full single-page web prototype using HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript with no frameworks and designed to load instantly on any device. The UI follows Scene+'s red and black brand identity with a premium fintech aesthetic. The three-tab app (Portfolio, Invest, and Learn) was designed and built within the competition window. We used Claude to help with UI design and deployed the prototype live on GitHub Pages for the demo using Vercel.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest design challenge was making investing feel approachable without dumbing it down. We went through several versions of the onboarding flow before landing on the points-as-currency model. We also had to think carefully about how to frame the product to Scotiabank's compliance environment, making sure the solution required zero new regulatory approvals by keeping all money in individual accounts and never pooling assets.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that the core idea, using points as a learning currency, which came directly from understanding the real user problem rather than reverse-engineering a cool tech feature. The graduation moment, where users see what their portfolio would have returned in real dollars, is the emotional core of the product and we think it genuinely solves the conversion problem Scotia faces. We're also proud of shipping a clean, working prototype in under 24 hours that actually looks like something a bank would build.

What we learned

We learned that the biggest barrier to investing isn't financial but psychological. The data kept pointing to confidence and clarity as the real blockers, not income. That reframe changed everything about how we designed the product. We also learned a lot about Scotiabank's existing product suite and realized the gap isn't in products because Scotia has really great products. The gap is the bridge between a young customer's chequing account and any of those products.

What's next for Scene+ Invest

The next phase would integrate real market data APIs to make the portfolio simulation fully live. A social layer, possibly letting friends create shared savings goals together, which would drive viral adoption within the Scene+ ecosystem. Long term, the points-to-TFSA graduation pipeline could feed directly into Scotia Smart Investor's onboarding flow, creating a seamless end-to-end journey from first Scene+ purchase to first real investment. The infrastructure is already there. Scene+ Invest is just the activation layer it's been missing.