Shares has announced ex-Revolut Product Owner Harjas Singh as Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer in a significant move to ensure the investing app is launched smoothly across the United Kingdom and Europe in the coming months.
The Shares app waitlist is open for subscribers to be the first users with access from December in the UK, followed soon after by investors across Europe in early 2022.
Harjas Singh joins Shares at a pivotal time for the time and will be responsible for Product Development, Growth and Expansion, where his first priority will be the launch and then continuous development of “investing made social”.
He was previously at Revolut as Product Owner in the Wealth & Trading Department, leading the Analytics & Core divisions of the product across stocks, crypto and commodities.
At Revolut, he spent two years building the retail investing product which was the first-ever zero commission fractional shares platform for customers across the European Economic Area. He has also spent four years Deutsche Bank at the forefront of modernizing the incumbent’s technology.
Benjamin Chemla, CEO & Co-Founder of Shares said: “François and I are delighted to welcome Harjas as Co-Founder and, on behalf of the team, Chief Product Officer of Shares, where his experience adds considerably to an already deep bench of talent. Since I first spoke to Harjas about how Shares was building a social-first investing app, we both agreed the vision could only be executed by seasoned scaleup experts but also people who shared our passion for a new kind of user experience and community. As Shares gears up to launch next month, Harjas will help us over the finish line and drive execution of the product roadmap ahead to create a category leader.”
Harjas Singh, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of Shares said: “I’m excited to join a team at Shares that has already built the foundations of ‘investing made social,’ opportunity to support the launch of the app and drive forward our vision for a new kind of community that’s missing from the first-generation of apps. Despite having worked in finance, I know from my own experience as a retail investor how inaccessible the world of investing can be even with today’s lower barrier, commission-free apps. There is real consumer demand for a social-first app like Shares designed to level the playing field so anyone can join the conversation and become an investor.”
Harjas added: “My decision to co-found Shares, was really one of conviction. There is a real need for an investing platform that creates a community, something we were all missing as users of existing apps. We’re going to fix those pain points with a user experience that breaks down barriers to investing, creating an inclusive place for every investor and truly democratise finance.”
Harjas Singh joins CEO Benjamin Chemla and CTO Françios Ruty as Co-Founder of Shares. The social investing app was rapidly built from the ground up in less than six months.
The firm has raised $10 million in a seed round with the backing of N26 and Wise, a co-founder of the competitor app, Freetrade, and other industry leaders.
