Simran Kaur and her best friend Sonya Gupthan started Friends That Invest - formerly Girls That Invest - in March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic hit Aotearoa New Zealand and the country went into lockdown.
What is now a major media company began as a podcast, inspired by the journey both women had been on with their finances while also learning about investing. They both wanted to make financial literacy more accessible to people, especially women. Stats show that only 16 to 24 per cent of women invest globally and that number is even smaller for women of colour.
While both women are based in Aotearoa, they were focused on making their platform - the podcast and resulting Instagram account appeal to an international audience. They soon started topping charts - being named the top financial podcast in New Zealand as well as the top business podast in the US and Canada within just a couple of years after launching.
The company is now run by Simran and a couple of employees, after Sonya left to pursue other ventures. It has since expanded to include Instagram and Tik Tok accounts that share informative posts on finances and the stock market, as well as memes. It is a key way for the Girls That Invest team to connect with their audiences and share content in a way that is relevant but also more accessible.
A new podcast episode is released every Tuesday. In the episodes, Simran does everything from break down the world of investing, cover off key terms and jargon, what the stock market is, and also includes interviews with business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Also on Tuesdays, Friends That Invest sends out an email newsletter called Stock Market Tea, which shares stock market news as well as investor tips. In 2022, Simran published a book named Friends That Invest, which has also been sold widely overseas, and has been turned into an audio book.
Simran also runs a masterclass, which is a 6-weekly paid course that people sign up for and includes videos, quizzes, PDFs, a private group chat, and live Q+A sessions, which aims to gear people up into knowledgeable investors.