Superhero bags another $15 million as it eyes a move into crypto
Aussie fintech Superhero has secured another $15 million in funding, bringing the total amount it has pocketed in the past six months to $40 million.
Aussie fintech Superhero has secured another $15 million in funding, bringing the total amount it has pocketed in the past six months to $40 million.
The raise follows a period of strong growth for the startup, as it eyes a move into the crypto space.
The latest round was led by Perennial Value Management, and also included investment from Regal Funds Management, Ophir Asset Management and Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group.
It comes just a year after the startup launched into the market. Founded in 2018 and launched in 2020 as a share trading platform, Superhero later announced it’s play in the superannuation sector.
The startup raised $8 million in September 2020 in a round led by Zip founder and chief Larry Diamond.
Just six months ago, in April this year, Superhero bagged another $25 million, including repeat backing from Diamond as well as from Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar, who previously backed the business as seed stage.
Since then, things have been all go, co-founder John Winters tells SmartCompany. The business has onboarded more than 80,000 new customers, bringing its total to about 135,000, he says.
The increase in users, plus the launch of US share trading has led to an uptick in the number of trades and the amount of capital flowing through the platform.
In July, Superhero officially launched its superannuation offering, which now has about 2,000 members.
The product allows members to invest their super into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and direct shares, without having to have a self-managed super fund, Winters explains.
This is what the co-founders had in mind when they first conceived of the startup, he adds.
“It’s been quite a whirlwind six months.”
Crypto on the horizon
Having secured a significant $25 million mere months ago, Winters says the latest raise was largely “opportunistic”.
The founders had the opportunity to take on additional capital that could help them bring forward some items on their roadmap, he explains.
That includes launching in New Zealand early next year, offering NZ, Australian and US shares to Kiwi investors. It’s a market ripe for disruption.
“They’ve got quite complex, old-school pricing structures, and for the most part very expensive offerings,” Winters says.
The team is also looking into offering cryptocurrency trading. He suggests there is still a certain lack of trust around crypto, and some gaps in understanding around how it works, so he wants to set Superhero up as a trusted brand that will “give people more comfort in sort of dipping their toe into the crypto space”.
What happens post-pandemic?
The economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, paired with an uptick in digital literacy, have led to success for share trading startups like Superhero.
But even as the worst of the crisis passes, and economies start to recover, Winters doesn’t see that trend slowing.
We were already on “a strong path to digitisation” even before the pandemic, he notes.
“The pandemic accelerated that at a level that the world has never seen.”
We’re in the midst of a generational shift, that is “in its infancy”, he adds.
There’s a whole workforce of millennials and younger workers who are embarking on their own wealth creation journeys, and they’re looking for new, tech-savvy ways to do so.
Share trading is “no longer a space that is reserved for the boomers and the wealthy,” Winters says.
“That’s what the world is waking up to.”
