An innovation that's helping smaller retail investors get involved in capital raises is also deliverying better information and new insights for issuers. 

Last year Sharesies developed an aspect of its app so investors, whether they have $5 or $5 million to invest, could easily participate in capital raises - a development that won the Fitch Ratings Innovation in Financial Services category of the 2023 INFINZ Awards.

Susannah Batley, Sharesies' GM Company Partnerships, says being able to easily participate in capital raises is important because it helps ensure shareholders large and small are treated fairly, and provides a great opportunity for new investors to come into a company.

Sharesies' mobile-first, design-led innovation was focused on making it easier for users to understand their options and how to participate in capital raises.  Offers can be complex to navigate, so embedded in the innovation are communications and education material to support investors.

Batley says many issuers see the value of small retail investors, who are often long-term supporters, but they struggle to connect with them and the award win also acknowledges this.  For example, Sharesies worked with Air New Zealand throughout its $1.2 billion rights offer in 2022 to ensure that the 100,000 investors in the company who use the Sharesies platform, were supported.

“A big focus when it comes to capital raisings is to partner with companies to support their engagement with retail investors and make sure those opportunities are equitable,” she says. “So this also recognises what we're doing for issuers through managing many of their retail shareholders on their behalf, and then leveraging a lot of data and analytics to help companies better understand their retail shareholders and the value that they bring.” 

Batley says innovation is at the heart of what Sharesies does, so the award was great recognition of the company’s contribution to the capital markets ecosystem.  

“You don't innovate for the sake of innovating; it's about innovating to solve genuine problems. Our purpose has always been to create financial empowerment for everyone, and there are still a lot of problems to be solved. So while we've been thrilled with progress to date, the journey is far from over.”