Sharesies expands Australasian footprint with Orchestra acquisition

Personal wealth development platform Sharesies recently made a significant achievement in its expansion plans across Australia and New Zealand by announcing the acquisition of equity management platform Orchestra.

Orchestra, which is based in Auckland, offers employee share ownership plans (ESOP) and share registry solutions to private companies in the region. Its clientele in Australia includes well-known names such as Les Mills, JBS&G, Fyfe, Konvoy, Willow, LEAP Legal, and Spriggy.

This acquisition is being seen as a crucial landmark for Sharesies, which is growing its B2B offering. Just last year, it launched Staff Shares and Sharesies Open, two initiatives already used by 20% of NZX-listed companies. By adding Orchestra to its family, Sharesies hopes to provide support to both listed and unlisted companies across Australia and New Zealand in the employee and investor equity management domain. In due course, Sharesies also plans to offer registry services.

After expanding to Australia in 2021, Sharesies has seen an average 36% rise in customer numbers each quarter and a 40% growth in funds under management. Sharesies views the acquisition of Orchestra as a crucial step in its current phase of rapid growth.

Brooke Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of Sharesies expressed delight at the expansion in Australia and pointed to Orchestra's Australian client base offering new growth opportunities across diverse sectors. She explained, "We already support over 30 listed companies and 8,000 staff with their staff share schemes and shareholder communications. Joining forces with Orchestra, which supports over 500 private companies and 60,000 shareholders, we look forward to better connections with their shareholders and employees and to creating value for their teams."

All ten staff members of Orchestra will be incorporated into the Sharesies team and will operate from the Sharesies office in Auckland. As of now, the Orchestra platform will function as usual. Over the next 18 months, however, its offerings will gradually become part of the Sharesies app experience. This integration will provide customers with the convenience of viewing their personal investments and staff-allocated shares all in one place.

Simeon Burnett, co-founder and board director at Orchestra, echoed similar sentiments, stating the merger with Sharesies would give Orchestra the opportunity to provide services to a wider range of businesses across Australasia, thereby ensuring accelerated growth and value for businesses, investors and employees.

As a welcome bonus for Orchestra stakeholders, all shareholders will receive shares in Sharesies, allowing them to continue reaping the benefits of their investment.