Shares bags another $40m for social investing app

Fresh off its $40m Series A funding round in March, Shares has won itself another huge investment.

The funding round, led once again by billionaire Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, which also backs the likes of Wise,N26 and Mondu, brings the company’s total raised to $90m.

The “social-first” consumer investing neobroker was founded just last year by Harjas Singh, Benjamin Chemla and François Ruty and has already amassed more than 150,000.

Now, CEO Chelma plans to take the London- and Paris-based service to the rest of Europe by the end of the year pending regulatory approval, Bloomberg reported.

“This latest investment from Valar Ventures will only serve to reinforce our growing momentum,” Chelma said.

“We are also now looking at the next stage of expansion into Europe that in turn will act as a springboard into international audiences.”

Shares has reportedly hired regional leaders in Barcelona, Berlin, Stockholm, Krackow and Amsterdam, and is exploring expanding into crypto services.

Against the backdrop of slashed valuations and a broader trend of pullback from the fintech space among investors, this second injection of cash in the space of a few months puts Shares in a solid position.

Shares was launched off the back of the pandemic, which caused a surge in retail trading and many new investors heading to apps.

The app launched in the UK a few months ago after amassing a waitlist of 60,000 and offers a “social trading” platform aimed at first-time investors.

Combining the simplicity of an investing product with a number of social media features, allowing members to track their friends’ investments and share their own views, 66 per cent of the app’s users are under the age of 25.