Superhero, an emerging Sydney-based share trading startup, has reportedly made its entry into the market with over $8 million in capital secured from some of Australia’s largest tech firms.

The $8 million investment round was led by the chief and founder of BNPL fintech firm, Zip, Larry Diamond, and Garen Azoyan, an early Zip investor. The round also saw participation from Leon Zweir, senior partner at Arnold Block Leibler. Additionally, Zip chairman, Philip Crutchfield also invested in the firm and would be joining Superhero as a non-executive chair.

The new startup is headed by John Winters, a renowned wealth management veteran, and Wayne Baskin, chief technology officer, Booktopia. Wayne Baskin was previously a member of renowned Australian BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) enterprise, Afterpay.

Nick Molnar, Afterpay chief and founder has also previously backed the Superhero business by participating in an earlier seed funding round.

Superhero intends to bring change to the country’s online investment market by making the overall experience much more accessible and transparent, and offering a flat fee of $5. Though there a number of different platforms that offer investors access to stocks that are US-listed, Superhero has been specifically designed to provide Australian investors access to businesses that are Aussie-listed.

John Winters, the co-founder and chief of Superhero, stated that Australian has not been the point of focus for many industry players, wherein nobody has really reinvented the user experience of value proposition or for Australia, and for shares listed on the ASX.

Winters further stated that the company sees this as a prominent opportunity for Australian investors than going offshore immediately.

While the company officially takes off today, Superhero co-founders have diligently been developing the product over the past 2.5 years.

The pandemic has driven more people towards adopting fintech tools, as well as share-trading platforms like the US-based Robin Hood, making this an ideal time for Superhero to enter the market.

Source credit: https://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/news/superhero-8-million-raise-afterpay-zip/