After securing $40 million in Series A funding, London-based social and investing startup Shares is launching its app.
The Series A was led by Peter Theil's Valar Ventures and brings Shares' total funding to $50 million in just nine months.
Having built up a 60,000-strong waitlist, Shares is now available for Brits to download via the Apple Store and Google Play, promising to bring all the features users would expect from a social media app with a simple investment product.
When buying or selling, users can share their views on the investment they are making with their close circles by sharing captions and GIFs.
An activity feed lets members keep track of, and react to, all their friends’ investments in real-time. People can also create group watchlists with their friends to track their next opportunities together as well as use group chats and private DMs for discussions. In addition, member profiles let users see what shares friends invest in, and their aggregated profits and losses.
Shares says that these features make it easier for people to discuss their investing, rather than relying on outside platforms such as Reddit and WhatsApp.
A survey from the startup shows that nearly one in three of 18-34 year old Brits expressly want to track the investments of friends and family as well as discuss their own experiences, whilst 17% of 18-34 year olds already turn to family and friends when making decisions about investing.
Harjas Singh, CPO, Shares, says: "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."