Shares.io announced today in an email from founder Ben Chemla to UK accounts holders that they were closing operations in the UK to focus on their domestic French and EU markets.
It’s a real shame when innovative investing apps try to scale too fast in different regions rather than focussing on winning their home market and end up spreading themselves too thin.
Shares.io is not the first investing app to find the UK market hard to crack recently Public.com has given up on chasing British investors, and despite a more recent attempt, US stock broker Robinhood, also pulled out of the UK market in 2020 and 2022.
The letter stated:
We’ve been active as an investment platform in the UK for the past 2 years now, offering you the possibility to invest in more than one thousand US fractional shares in a unique investing app with the goal of democratising investment for all.
Since launching Shares in the UK, we’re so proud of the community that we’ve built around our product – and that’s thanks to users like you.
Although closing our operations in the UK has been a difficult decision to take, this isn’t the end. We’re incredibly excited for the future of Shares as we continue to build our product for our users in France.
We’re taking this time as we evaluate our options to provide the best possible investing experience for you, our users.
We hope this is just a temporary pause which will allow us to come back as a stronger company in the UK, able to provide you with even more revolutionary features and products.
We’re committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for our UK users, and will help you navigate it as well as we can.
What next for Shares.io customers?
Shares.io customers have until the 19th of July to sell investments on the app, if they don’t do it themselves, Shares.io will sell them on customers behalf and return funds to their bank accounts.
Shares.io are encouraging people to sell their shares rather than transfer them to another broker. This is probably sensible as a transfer of stocks from one broker to another is quite time-consuming anyway, and in my experience, when a broker is in the process of winding down, it can take even longer.
To facilitate selling positions rather than transfers in stocks, shares.io will not be charging commissions or fees on sell orders.
If you have been affected by the Shares.io UK closure you can find a selection of alternative investing apps below. Or if you were specifically interested in the social trading feature, eToro offers a similar service.
| Investing App | Account Fee | Min Deposit | Customer Reviews | GMG Rating | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 0.25% (capped at £3.50 pm) | £500 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | Shares: £0 Funds: 0.45% | £1 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | 0.6% | £1 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | 0.75% | £500 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | £24 per quarter | £250 | See App* Capital at risk |
||
 | From £4.99 a month | £1 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | £0 | £1 | See App Capital at risk |
||
 | €10 per month or 0.12% | £1 | See App Capital at risk |
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
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