Shares hires ex-Revolut as co-founder amid launch in UK and Europe

Shares has appointed Harjas Singh as Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of the European social and investing app.

Harjas Singh joins Shares from Revolut, where he was Product Owner in the Wealth & Trading Department and led the Analytics & Core divisions of the product across stocks, crypto and commodities.

He spent two years building the retail investing product at Revolut which was the first-ever zero commission fractional shares platform for customers across Europe.

Benjamin Chemla, Chief Executive Officer and François Ruty, Chief Technology Officer have, in less than six months, built a fast-growth Founding Team of 80 to-date and the emerging investing app from the ground up.

Singh will join the Chemla and Ruty as co-founder and help them lead Shares to greatness as CPO, responsible for Product Development, Growth and Expansion.

As CPO, he will be in charge of launch and then continuous development of “investing made social”, which the firm says is pioneering a whole new product category in the investing space.

Shares is about to be launched for consumers in the United Kingdom and, in early 2022, the investing app will be spread across the entire European market.

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.

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.”

Based out of the London office, Harjas Singh will also spend time at the Shares HQ in Paris. The startup emerged from stealth in September and revealed the previously unannounced close of one of Europe’s largest-ever seed rounds, $10 Million USD pre-product from investors that include early backers of N26 and Wise, a co-founder of the competitor app, Freetrade, and other industry leaders.