Shares nets $40M to make investing social 💸; Australian FinTech Zeller grabs A$100M as neobanks continue to raise 🦄; Study Now, Pay Later? 🤔

Good Morning FinTech, March 4

Good day Everyone,

And happy Friday! What a week it was… 🤯 But it’s not over yet, and these 3 FinTech stories are probably the best ones this week. Check them out yourselves:

Shares nets $40M to make investing social 💸

Funding + launch 💸🚀 After just securing $40M in Series A funding led by Peter Theil's Valar Ventures, London-based social investing FinTech Shares is going live and launching its app.

Having built up a 60,000-strong waitlist, Shares is now available for anyone in the UK to download via the Apple Store and Google Play, and hence promises to bring all the features users would expect from a social media app with a simple investment product.

The company expects to expand to other European countries in the near future.

The USP 🥊 Shares doesn’t want to be the next Robinhood, Freetrade, or Bitpanda. At the core, it’s all about making investing social.

Shares hence gives family, friends as well as experienced investors a single platform to meet, discuss, and make investments, fostering long-term financial wellbeing through sharing thoughts and experiences. So they could grow and enjoy their investments together. Social element sits like a cherry on top as social experience is something investors are already accustomed to, primarily using platforms such as Reddit, WhatsApp, or Telegram. Now you can find everything on a single platform.

The mechanics 🧰 With Shares, users can buy fractional shares — they can get started with as little as £1.00. There are no trading fees, but there could be some spread between the buy and sell price. Alpaca is the execution broker sitting in the back.

Can Shares be the next big thing in FinTech? Some thoughts: