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Spaceship: Buckle up, We Are Going the Right Way!

spaceship

The history of saving funds suggests that millions are still loyal to traditional schemes. It’s sad but true, but rusty investing schemes fail to keep up with the pace of booming technology, and it’s a real pity the market goes unnoticed.

Bringing a breath of fresh air to the industry of investing are four millennial entrepreneurs, born to and raised by technology itself. Dave Kuhn, Andrew Sellen, Paul Bennet, and Kaushik Sen are all about the modern investment approach, one that ensures everyone a better future.

Offering a new way to invest money for a better tomorrow, Spaceship is presented as a transparent superfund where investors of all walks of life can start saving up for rainy days. With spot-on technology and a remarkable audience of 175,000 and counting, Spaceship makes investing accessible to all.

From saving money to saving the investment market, here is how the four horsemen of the industry brought upon the most community-oriented platforms of today!

You Millennials and Your Computers!

Kaushik, Andrew, Dave, and Paul were born and raised in sunny Australia. They’re all millennials, which in other words means they were brought up alongside the rise of technology.

Just as any other millennial teenager, all four boys would repeatedly argue with their parents about time spent in front of their computers. Be that as it may, what the boys were actually doing was gathering computer knowledge and being fascinated by all the things the device could do.

Although they all shared the same interests and affinities, the boys grew up in different corners of the country and had never met one another.

The Dream of Uni

Kaushik was the first to pursue his computer science dream and enrolled at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated in finance and marketing and software engineering. After college, Kaushik pursued his dream in the Nationale Nederlanden, where he worked for a year. Being in his 20s felt like riding a roller coaster and although Kaushik was clueless about what he would do next - he just kept on doing.

One of the first jobs Kaushik had was that of a solution architect at ING Australia. Interestingly, at this very company, Kaushik would meet his future co-founder, Dave Kuhn. Dave was someone who boasted incredible skills for analysis and innovation, and so pursued his dream at the University of New Castle, where he graduated in the field of Applied Information Technology. He then continued his studies and graduated from the University of Technology in Sydney, and earned a Master’s degree in business information and technology.

Meanwhile, Andrew was still not part of the bigger picture, because he had been working as the marketing director of an Australian ethical super when Dave and Kaushik met. Andrew did quite superbly at his job, and even helped the super grow from 80 to 800 customers per month - in just 3 years! He also contributed to raising its fund from A$500 million to A$1.5 billion.

The Union of Innovative Minds

The only one with solid experience in superfunds - a decade strong - was Kaushik. Aside from superfunds, Kaushik also showed interest in creating his own business. Then, one day, while discussing the future over a beer, Kaushik told Dave Kuhn his plan to change the business tide.

Dave was instantly engaged by the idea. In fact, he had been thinking the same for quite a while! The interesting thing was that Dave knew Andrew, another co-founder-to-be, from church, and suggested him as a marketer to Kaushik. When the three got together, the vision was shared, elaborated, and rooted. It was now time to do business.

While three men were building their business futures together, Paul was still to make the cut.

Never Settle for Mediocrity

The idea to create a superfund first came to the team as a cry for change within the industry. The innovators learned that many people are saving up for retirement by trusting outdated and retro practices, mainly implemented by the government, and were initially bothered by the lack of diversity and transparency on the investment market. Out of their pet peeves came Spaceship, an investment platform founded in 2016, in Sydney, Australia.

If Nothing Goes Right - Go Left!

Besides the majestic alternative Spaceship brought to potential investors, the platform struggled to find its place on the market. For one, for the company to exist, strict regulations and criteria had to be met, something that partially prevented the investors from experimenting further.

However, the team wasn’t ready to give up and worked tirelessly to deliver what had been asked, and six months later, the brand got approved for business. On the other side of the storm, things were looking up.

After the tumultuous period, the company began recuperating from the initial limitation. In 2018, they broke the chains of the traditional and launched their second platform, called Spaceship Voyager. This platform appealed to the younger generation of users, the majority of whom were already accustomed to technology and eager to invest in a better future.

Instead of locking their investments, Spaceship used the money saved to again invest it, this time in great tech giants like Apple, thus raising the user’s balance.

Funny Funding Business

The company was funded by a total of 7 investors, the most notable of which are Leigh Jasper, Stative Ventures, and Mike Cannon Brookes. Whilst preparing for their second funding round, however, Spaceship realized that, due to heavy restrictions, they were not able to accept the investment, and were not prepared to risk the company’s future for cash.

After failing to obtain the license for a second fund, the company CEO, Paul stepped down from the position and handed this role to Andrew.

Andrew had been an employee of the company since 2017 and knew its mission like the back of his hand, which left the rest confident that the newbie CEO would do the role justice.

The good news is that, after the switch of roles, Spaceship was soon back in the funding game and managed to raise a total of A$41.1 million, carried out over 3 rounds. According to their last-year statistics, the company operates with $232.4 million in assets. That said, its Voyager platform saves around $31.3 million, all aimed at people’s future!

Spaceship, a Successful Business Story

Business aside when it comes to its totally unconventional and quirky name, Spaceship has a great story to tell. As the team explained, they initially considered using names that instantly birth faith among active and potential investors, such as fidelity, trust, and transparency.

As none of these names really stuck, they aimed for something more sophisticated and upbeat. So why is it actually called Spaceship out of all things?

Because it is your vehicle taking you to your future - and you are in the cockpit!

In any business, five years is a trivial amount of time for a startup to do spectacularly great. Recognizing this ambitious movement, we cannot help but applaud; not just the idea of investing smartly yet unconventionally but also the team of revolutionary game- changers with whom doing business is always a pleasure!