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Raiz Invest (ASX: RZI) managing director and joint CEO George Lucas has today announced he will be leaving the company from 31 December 2022, eight years after he founded the micro-investment platform.
Lucas, who founded the company in 2014 in order to bringing the Acorns platform to the Australian market, said he was stepping down in order to ‘pursue other opportunities’.
Since 2014, the company - which lets users save and invest spare change into exchange traded funds - has seen its assets under management grow to more than $1 billion from more than 1.5 million investment accounts.
“Founding and building Raiz has been my most rewarding challenge,” Lucas said.
“I’m proud of having helped over 1 million people learn more about savings and investments. I am excited about the future for Raiz, especially the renewed focus on educating the next generation on building financial security.”
In Lucas’ place, current joint CEO Brendan Malone will take up the role of managing director, and accept responsibility for all Raiz offices globally.
Chair Harvey Kalman, who also announced today he was stepping down effective immediately, said he would miss having Lucas’ “unique perspective”, but welcomed the promotion of Malone.
“Brendan has been an integral part of the business since joining as the first employee of the organisation in 2015,” Kalman said.
“He brings a passion for our customers and our people, as well as an intimate knowledge and understanding of our business.
“The board is confident that Brendan is well equipped and committed to leading the next stage of growth for the company.”
Kalman, who has been chair of Raiz for the last 12 months, will be replaced by Stuart Grimshaw from tomorrow.
“It has been a privilege to chair the board of Raiz over the past twelve months, steering it through one of the most tumultuous periods in the organisation’s history,” Kalman said.
“The organisation is moving into a new strategic era, and I believe this is a good time to allow fresh leadership in the Chair and CEO roles to take the business forward.
“I am pleased to announce that Stuart Grimshaw, our current chair of the Audit and Risk Committee will step into the role of chair. I will continue to serve the board as a non-executive director and look forward to being part of the organisation’s exciting future.”
The leadership changes come one month after Raiz released its FY22 results, which detailed how the company managed to grow revenue during a particularly volatile period for global investment markets.
Revenue rose 39.5 per cent to $18.7 million in the period ending 30 June 2022, but consolidated losses ballooned to nearly $6 million.
This led to Raiz announcing it would conduct a formal review of the company’s strategy, which is expected to be announced to the market at the next AGM.
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