Shareholder engagement platform InvestorHub topped up last year’s Series A with an extra $4 million.
The new round was led by existing backer EVP, with follow-on investment from Archangel Ventures and Flying Fox Ventures too. It takes the total value of the Series A to $9 million after an initial $4 million in May 2023, when the company rebranded from Fresh Equities.
That initial round included approval for an additional $1 million post-raise for strategic investors.
Ben Williamson and Rhys Davis cofounded Fresh Equities in 2017, to give investors access to opportunities in ASX -listed companies normally reserved for large funds. Under its old name, InvestorHub raised $2.3 million in August 2021 from a range of fintech founders, including Zip’s Larry Diamond and Adam Finger, and Wisr’s Anthony Nantes.
They launched as Fresh Amplify in July 2022, solving the problem that liste companies find it difficult and expensive to communicate with shareholders and institutions outside of the top 20.
InvestorHub says it has tripled its revenue in the time between that first and latest Series A cash injections, with 4% of ASX companies using the platform, The new capital is to build market share in Australia and internationally, with UK, around 10% of its client base, as a key growth market, with Canadian and North American exchanges still on the radar, as they were 14 months ago with the initial raise.
InvestorHub cofounder and co-CEO Ben Williamson said they’re also planning to develop new features, including artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities for product efficiency, prediction modelling, quicker insights for companies and answers for smaller investors.
“Technology is granting access to new types of investors who are having a measurable impact on liquidity, share price movement, and capital raise outcomes,” he said
“Despite this, larger individual shareholders outside of a company’s Top 20 (or 1%) are still overlooked and treated as ‘mum and dads’. In reality, this mid-register portion represents around 24% of the shareholder registry and is generally responsible for 50% of all trades.”
Williamson argues that because retail investors drive the majority of trades that influence share price, executives who overlook them are ignoring their share price.
“Smaller retail investors, or those we call ‘long tail’ investors, account for roughly 75% of all shareholders, and while they arguably may be the least valuable shareholders, this group is driving a quarter of daily trading volume, and when engaged effectively, can increase their shareholding value by 139%,” he said.
“The issue that time-poor executives faced until recently, was the lack of a viable or scalable method of understanding and communicating meaningfully with retail investors. It’s one reason that an increasing number of listed leaders say being a listed company is becoming a hindrance.”
Trending
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.