Online fund distributor and share broker, Sharesies, has set a valuation of about $40 million based on its latest capital-raising round that attracted Pathfinder as a new stakeholder.
Pathfinder pitched in a total $460,000 sourced from its CareSaver KiwiSaver scheme and wholesale Ethical Trans-Tasman fund last week for just over 1 per cent of the unlisted Sharesies shares – putting an indicative value on the platform of approximately $40 million. Sharesies reportedly has about $370 million in funds on the platform and 150,000 or so users.
The Sharesies deal, understood to have raised about $5 million, saw most existing owners diluted, a few taking more stock and a handful of minor shareholder exits.
Sharesies also named one of the new equity-holders, Jonathan Macdonald, as director, replacing Lisa Stewart, who resigned last November.
As reported last week, the last few months have been kind to all direct-to-consumer investment platforms in NZ including InvestNow (which reported funds under management above $500 million) and US equities service, the Kiwi Wealth-owned Hatch.
The Auckland-based Pathfinder, half-owned by global investment firm Alvarium, also allocated $420,000 for a small stake in medicinal cannabis business, Rua Bioscience.
For Pathfinder, the Sharesies/Rua deals represent another foray into the NZ unlisted small company domain after a similar-sized investment in Wellington payroll technology firm, PaySauce, in April.
In a statement, John Berry, Pathfinder CEO, said the long-term nature of KiwiSaver lends itself to such private investments.
“It is not just about diversifying away from the listed companies in which all KiwiSaver providers invest, it is about accessing the higher return potential of exciting and high growth private companies that currently very few KiwiSaver providers invest in,” Berry said. “This is about being committed to the best outcomes for our investors and for New Zealand.”
The CareSaver scheme, targeting the ethical investment market, has reported respectable growth since launching last year with membership verging on 1,000.