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Sydney-based fintech Superhero has boosted its valuation to $150 million after raising $11 million from existing investors to expand its offering to include managed and micro investment portfolios, in a bid to become Australia’s “go-to wealth management platform”.
The latest capital raise follows a $3 million funding round in February this year by the company which is backed by Perennial Private, Regal Funds Management, Zip Co (ASX: ZIP) co-founder Larry Diamond and Afterpay co-founder Nick Molnar.
Superhero plans to use the funds raised to launch new investment options, including managed and micro investment portfolios, alongside a portfolio management tool designed to help investors build long-term wealth without requiring personal financial advice.
"There's a huge segment of Australians who want to invest with purpose and direction but don't necessarily know what to pick or how to build a diversified portfolio," says John Winters, co-founder of Superhero.
"Our aim is to bridge that gap, giving people confidence and clarity without going down the often costly personal advice route.
"Advice is one of the biggest unsolved challenges in our space. We haven't seen anyone truly crack the nut on it yet, but we think we're pretty close.
“Our goal is to make it accessible, understandable and affordable for the mass market."
Superhero was founded by Winters and Wayne Baskin in 2018 initially as a low-cost trading platform for the ASX, and later expanded into US markets and its Superhero Super investment product.
The company plans to transform its business beyond traditional share trading to offer sophisticated portfolio management tools for the mass affluent market.
The aim is to capture a share of investors who are caught between DIY platforms and traditional financial advisers – an area of the market that Superhero says is underserviced.
The latest capital injection has been announced in tandem with new senior leadership appointments including Raf Choudhury, who becomes chief investment officer and brings more than a decade of experience from State Street Global Advisors to the company.
Choudhury, formerly State Street’s head of investment strategy and research, will lead Superhero’s investment management offerings and oversee strategy across the company’s $3.2 billion in funds under administration.
Nathan Dearinger, formerly of BT Super, has been named head of risk; Tim Johnson, who joined Superhero last year and previously was the head of super at ING, is chief customer officer; and Simon Keast who joins from Zip Co and was formerly a division director at Macquarie, has been appointed chief financial officer.
Superhero currently operates as a digital share-trading and superannuation platform serving more than 400,000 investors - a figure that has almost doubled from about 240,000 two years ago.
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