UK-based Shares, which claims to be “Europe’s first social and investing app with a waitlist of more than 60,000”, has launched its app to the market and closed a $40 million Series A round.
The founding team of Shares
The round was led by Peter Thiel’s fund, Valar Ventures.
This brings the start-up’s total funding to $50 million. Among its earlier investors are Singular and Global Founders Capital.
In the nine months since its inception, Shares has hired over 130 full-time employees and established its first three offices in London, Paris and Krakow.
Co-founded by Benjamin Chemla (chief executive officer), François Ruty (chief technology officer), and Harjas Singh (chief product officer), Shares’ senior team incudes hires from Revolut, Stuart, Morgan Stanley, Bumble, and FreeNow.
Singh explains the thinking behind Shares: “The use of social networks has fundamentally changed how we interact with friends and family, what we talk about and how we make decisions. With being more connected than ever, why shouldn’t it improve the way we think about investments too? People are already using solutions like Whatsapp, Telegram and joining communities to talk about trading.
“We’ve realised there is a need for an investment product that allows groups of friends to invest, discuss and share their investment journey. At Shares, we decided to bring it all together.
“Catered to resonate with the next generation of investors, the social element is integral to the experience, not an afterthought.”
Singh believes Shares is “already in a position to compete with the biggest players in the market”.
Chemla adds the plans are to go to Europe and beyond, and describes the app’s launch as “the first giant leap toward giving everyone what’s missing in the experience of investing today”.
The company says its unique proposition comprises:
Social trading – when buying or selling on Shares, users can share their views on the investment they are marking with their close circles by sharing captions and GIFs.
Activity feed – Shares enables its members to keep track of all their friends’ investments in real-time, support or challenge each other’s trades and react to them through likes and comments.
Group watchlists – people are able to create group watchlists with their friends to track their next opportunities together.
Chat – whether through group chats or private DMs, Shares provides the means to discuss investment strategies with your close friends and family.
Member profiles – view friends’ profiles to see what shares they invest in, and their aggregated profits and losses.
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