Fintech Raiz Invest experienced a difficult start to ASX life this morning just months after it underwent a complete rebrand from Acorns Australia.

The stock (ASX:RZI) rang the ASX bell at 11am AEST after raising today $15.1 million in an IPO of 8.4 million shares issued at $1.80 each.

The shares were $1.79 at the open but fell 22 per cent to $1.40 by the end of the day.

About $4 million of the IPO funds raised will go towards meeting the company’s regulatory requirements under its Australian Financial Services Licence, according to the prospectus.

Another $5 million will go towards international expansion and $2 million will go towards a “one-off bonus for key employees of the Raiz Group”.

This includes a $1 million one-off cash bonus to the company’s managing director, George Lucas.

Another $2 million will go to working capital costs, while $2.1 million will be spent on advertising and rebranding after the company’s name change earlier this year.

The millennial-focused investing app lets users automatically invest “spare change” by transferring small amounts from connected bank accounts into exchange-traded funds.

Mr Lucas originally brought the business to Australia in 2016 as Acorns Australia.

The project was a joint venture with his  company Instreet Investment and Acorns Grow, the US parent company of popular micro-investing brand Acorns.

The company quickly amassed 100,000 users in six months and in April changed its name and branding from Acorns to Raiz Invest. This occurred after Instreet Investment upped its stake in the business.

Acorns Grow will retain a stake in Raiz Invest and is a substantial shareholder of the soon-to-listed company, owning 5.1 million Raiz Invest shares to give it a voting power of 7.8 per cent.

The company’s most recent half report, prior to the rebrand as Raiz Invest, showed it generated $1m in revenue in the six months to December 2017 and was operating at a loss of $981,000 over that six month period.

Its biggest expense for those six months was sales and administration expenses where it spent $830,000. At the end of December 2017 the business had $6,721 in cash on hand and $178,000 in “trade and other receivables”.

“We continue to tap into Australia’s hugeappetite for financial services, with demand for our simple, easy to manage and affordable financial solutions remaining strong,” Mr Lucas said in a statement to investors this morning.

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