Sharesies $1m Media Release

Sharesies $1million Media Release

New online investment platform, Sharesies has had $1million dollars invested through the platform, after just 8 weeks. And this isn’t just from wealthy individuals, it’s mostly from 3,500 people putting in small amounts on a regular basis. Sharesies has a minimum buy-in of $5 and encourages people to invest amounts they can afford, on a regular basis.

“What we’re excited about is creating the new ‘typical investor’. Instead of 1 person with $1million, it can now be 1 million people with $1 (or in Sharesies case 3,500 people averaging $285).” says Brooke Anderson, CEO & Co-Founder of Sharesies.

Sharesies is challenging the stereotype about Kiwi’s being notoriously bad at saving and investing, and that investing is only for the rich. They’re also challenging what the majority of Kiwis typically define as investing – owning a home. Now having access to investing at amounts they can afford – New Zealanders have an alternative way to start growing their wealth.

“In New Zealand we have a housing market worth $1trillion, and a share market cap of $150 billion. This is the opposite in other countries.” says Leighton Roberts, Co-Founder of Sharesies.

Sharesies expect to start seeing this shift as more New Zealanders get access to alternative ways to grow their wealth...and they’re just getting started.

“After 8 weeks we’ve shown that if you create an accessible platform like Sharesies, that helps people feel good about doing long term things with their money, they will. We’re excited about the impact this can have on financial literacy in NZ.” says Sonya Williams, Co-Founder ofSharesies.

Sharesies have seen their investors are rather patriotic so far – with a substantial amount of money supporting into NZ businesses, which helps these businesses grow.

“We’ve seen that our investors are fairly patriotic with 41% of the money being invested into supporting Kiwi businesses.”

The ages on Sharesies platform range from 18-88 years old, with 80% of customers being below 40. Deposit sizes have ranged from $2 to $49,000.

“It is also great to see 50/50 engagement from both genders. Encouraging more women to invest is something we’re definitely passionate about.”

Sharesies customers are loving being able to now call themselves an ‘investor’.

“Investing is something I was way too scared to do or know how to start so it is great that Sharesies exists, I feel really empowered!” Jacinta, a Sharesies customer. Sharesies plan is to add sustainable and ethical investment options to their platform in the next few months.

“Providing a selected range of investment options, so people can choose what to invest in based on their individual beliefs, goals and behaviours is really important to us as we develop Sharesies.” says Brooke.

ENDS

About Sharesies

Sharesies is an online platform that makes it easy (and even a little addictive) to start investing.

Sharesies kicked off in October last year – spending 6 months on researching Kiwi’s attitudes towards money and investing, before going full-time. Through their research they found that the vast majority of people want to be an investor, it's an aspiration, but they can't because:

1. They don't know where to start.
2. They are jargoned out - capital allocation, ETF, PDS ... WTF.
3. They are priced out - the minimum buy-in is way too high.
4. They are left out - financial institutions only target the wealthy few.

8 weeks ago Sharesies beta was launched. Currently, the beta gives customers access to six NZX Smartshares, being able to invest in each fund with around $5. So far the results have exceeded their initial expectations.

over 7,000 Facebook followers.
over 3,500 customers.
over NZD$1m in Funds Under Management (FUM).
80% of users are under 40 years old.
50/50 gender engagement .

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