founder of Friends That Invest Age 29 Leaving from Auckland, New Zealand Moving to New York City, United States Expected move September 2026 Why New York? To expand Friends That Invest in a major global financial and media market Visa US O-1 talent visa Is the company leaving NZ? No. Kaur says the NZ team will remain and continue business as usual Permanent departure? Not according to current reporting. She has indicated an intention to return after around three years Business founded Girls That Invest, launched in 2020 and later rebranded as Friends That Invest Recognition Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia, 2024 Young New Zealander of the Year, Cartier Women’s Initiative Oceania winner, Deloitte Fast 50 recognition
She confirmed the news herself
Kaur’s LinkedIn post removes any ambiguity around the move.
She wrote that she was heading to New York to build out Friends That Invest in the “big apple” and said she had loved building the business in New Zealand over the past six years.
Crucially, she also made clear that this is not a wholesale relocation of the company out of New Zealand.
Her New Zealand team will remain in place, she said, while she uses her O-1 visa to broaden the company’s reach internationally. (LinkedIn)
That distinction matters.
The story is not that Friends That Invest is abandoning New Zealand. It is that its founder is moving closer to one of the world’s biggest financial, investment, media and venture-capital ecosystems while keeping the company’s home operation intact.
Why is she leaving?
The New Zealand Herald report appears to have focused heavily on the emotional side of the decision.
Kaur acknowledged mixed feelings about becoming part of the very “brain drain” debate that frequently surrounds successful young New Zealanders leaving for larger overseas markets.
She told the Herald that she felt some guilt about leaving, while also saying people need to challenge themselves and explore new opportunities. She described the situation as complicated because she does not want New Zealand to lose talent while recognising that she is now part of that outward movement herself. (Indian Weekender)
But commercially, the rationale is fairly clear.
New York offers scale.
It is one of the world’s largest financial centres and gives Kaur direct access to:
a far larger pool of consumers interested in investing major financial institutions global media organisations potential commercial partners speakers and podcast guests venture capital and technology networks advertisers and sponsors a much larger addressable market for financial education
Kaur has also reportedly pointed to New York’s status as a financial centre, suggesting people living there may already be more prepared to think about investing. (Awaaz)
For a company whose product is financial education, the logic is obvious.
Auckland proved the business could be built. New York gives Kaur a chance to test how far it can scale.
What is an O-1 visa?
Kaur says she will move using an O-1 talent visa.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services describes the O-1 classification as being for people who can demonstrate extraordinary ability through sustained national or international acclaim, including in business. (USCIS)
That makes the visa itself a meaningful indicator of how far Kaur’s profile has developed internationally.
She is no longer simply a New Zealand content creator moving abroad to see what happens.
Her existing business record, media profile and awards have been substantial enough for her to secure a US immigration pathway designed for people with recognised achievement in their field.
From optometry to financial media
Kaur’s career did not begin in finance.
She studied optometry at the University of Auckland and qualified for a conventional professional career before shifting toward investment education. (University of Auckland)
The business that would eventually become Friends That Invest began during the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.
Kaur co-founded Girls That Invest with her friend Sonya Gupthan after recognising what she saw as a major gap in financial education for women.
The idea was straightforward: investing information existed, but much of it was filled with jargon, presented in a way that often felt inaccessible, and disproportionately targeted at men.
Cartier’s profile of Kaur says she created the company after struggling to find investment education aimed at young women, particularly women of colour. (Cartier Women’s Initiative)
That problem became the company’s business opportunity.
Why Friends That Invest became successful
There is a tendency to describe successful online businesses as if they simply “went viral”.
That explanation is lazy.
Friends That Invest grew because several things came together at the right time.
1. It solved a clear problem
Kaur did not start by trying to build a broad finance website.
She targeted a specific gap: people who wanted to invest but found traditional financial education intimidating or irrelevant.
The original focus on women gave the brand a clearly defined audience and purpose. (Cartier Women’s Initiative)
2. It made complicated information easier to consume
The company built its audience through podcasts, social media, newsletters, online education and eventually books.
Its message was deliberately less technical than traditional financial commentary.
The Apple Podcasts listing for Friends That Invest describes the show as breaking down investing and wealth-building without the usual jargon. It now reports more than 10 million podcast downloads. (Apple Podcasts)
Earlier University of Auckland data recorded five million downloads, showing how rapidly the audience expanded over time. (University of Auckland)
3. It turned a media audience into a business
A large audience alone does not necessarily create a successful company.
Friends That Invest built several revenue channels around its community.
These have included:
podcasting investing masterclasses digital education speaking engagements commercial partnerships books newsletters brand partnerships and sponsorship opportunities
Cartier reported that nearly 7,000 women had participated in its six-week masterclass by 2024. (Cartier Women’s Initiative)
4. Kaur became the face of the brand
Founder-led content became a major part of the company’s growth.
In a LinkedIn post, Kaur said videos of herself speaking directly to camera had become some of the company’s highest-performing content, with around two million new people finding the brand each month at that stage. (LinkedIn)
That is a significant lesson in modern media.
The audience was not only following financial education. It was following a recognisable person delivering it.
5. The business built international reach from New Zealand
The company’s growth was never limited to Auckland.
The University of Auckland has previously described the podcast as reaching millions internationally and having ranked number one in business podcast charts in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. (University of Auckland)
The Young New Zealander of the Year organisation later reported listeners in more than 150 countries, thousands of students across more than 60 countries and hundreds of thousands of social media followers. (Kiwibank NZer of the Year Awards)
That international audience helps explain why New York is the next logical move.
A strong 2024 changed the trajectory
Kaur publicly shared figures showing how quickly the business accelerated during 2024.
According to one of her LinkedIn updates, the company exceeded several targets:
student enrolment target exceeded by 91% speaking revenue target exceeded by 40% partnership revenue target exceeded by 160% social media target exceeded by 31% newsletter target exceeded by 44% (LinkedIn)
She also said the brand had reached 525,000 followers against a 400,000 target at that point. (LinkedIn)
These are self-reported company figures rather than independently audited financial results, but they help explain why expansion into the United States is happening now.
Awards followed the growth
Kaur’s success has also been recognised outside her own company.
She was named Young New Zealander of the Year in 2024, with the awards organisation highlighting her work in making financial education more accessible to women. (Kiwibank NZer of the Year Awards)
She was also named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia honouree in 2023. (Kiwibank NZer of the Year Awards)
In 2024, she won first place for Oceania in the Cartier Women’s Initiative, where first-place regional winners received US$100,000 in grant funding along with mentoring and fellowship support. (Cartier Women’s Initiative)
Her LinkedIn profile also lists Friends That Invest at number 20 in Deloitte’s 2025 Fast 50 ranking. (LinkedIn)
The millionaire headline needs context
The Herald headline describes Kaur as a millionaire at 29.
That is consistent with previous profiles.
The University of Auckland had already described her as having become a millionaire by age 26. (University of Auckland)
Forbes reported in 2022 that Kaur had started investing with around $8,000 and had grown her assets significantly through investing and entrepreneurship. (Forbes)
But readers should be careful about treating “millionaire” as if it means someone has a million dollars sitting in a bank account.
Net worth can include investments, property, business interests and other assets.
The more relevant part of Kaur’s story is the business she built around financial education, because that is what has created the international platform now taking her to New York.
The company itself is staying in New Zealand
This is one of the most important details of the story.
Kaur’s LinkedIn post states directly that the New Zealand team will remain in place and continue operations. (LinkedIn)
Friends That Invest’s LinkedIn company profile continues to list Auckland as its headquarters and describes the organisation as a small, self-owned financial education business. (LinkedIn)
So describing this as Friends That Invest “leaving New Zealand” would be inaccurate.
The founder is relocating.
The company still has a New Zealand operation.
Is this another example of New Zealand’s brain drain?
It is tempting to turn Kaur’s move into another simple “successful Kiwi leaves New Zealand” story.
There is some truth in that framing, and Kaur herself has acknowledged the tension.
But her case is slightly different from the typical brain-drain story.
She is not leaving because her company failed here.
She is leaving because it succeeded here.
New Zealand provided the environment in which she studied, built the company, grew an audience and established international credibility.
The problem is that once a New Zealand company reaches a certain level, much bigger markets can become commercially difficult to ignore.
For a financial media business, New York offers an audience and industry network Auckland simply cannot replicate at the same scale.
That leads to a harder question for New Zealand.
Can the country remain the place where ambitious companies are created while accepting that their founders may need to spend significant time overseas to turn them into genuinely global businesses?
Kaur’s decision suggests those two things do not necessarily have to be contradictory.
Why she says she plans to come back
Current reporting says Kaur’s O-1 visa is temporary and that she intends to return to New Zealand after about three years. (Indian Weekender)
That could eventually make the move less of a departure and more of an international expansion phase.
If Friends That Invest can establish a larger US presence while retaining its New Zealand operation, the result may ultimately be a New Zealand-founded company with significantly greater international reach.
That is very different from a business simply packing up and disappearing offshore.
What happens next
Kaur’s next challenge will be considerably harder than building recognition in New Zealand.
The United States offers a vastly bigger market, but also far more competition.
Financial education is crowded with:
major finance publishers personal-finance influencers investment platforms fintech companies podcasts newsletters YouTube creators established American financial personalities
Friends That Invest will have to prove that the positioning which worked internationally from Auckland can translate into deeper commercial success on the ground in the United States.
New York gives Kaur access to the market.
It does not guarantee success in it.
Still, she arrives with something many founders moving overseas do not have: an established audience, a profitable-looking media model, international recognition and six years of evidence that people want what the company produces.
The bigger story
The headline is that a 29-year-old millionaire entrepreneur is leaving Auckland for New York.
The more interesting story is how she got there.
Kaur trained in optometry, identified a weakness in traditional financial education, started an investing podcast during lockdown, built an audience around women who felt excluded from finance, converted that audience into a broader education and media business, and then took the brand into international markets.
Six years later, that Auckland-founded company has enough global reach for its founder to make New York the next stage of expansion.
And despite her own discomfort about becoming part of New Zealand’s outward flow of talent, Kaur is not severing ties with the country.
Her team is staying.
The business remains active here.
And, for now, she says she intends to come back.
Sources and attribution
Original reporting: New Zealand Herald, ‘I feel a little bit guilty’: Why 29yo millionaire Simran Kaur is leaving NZ, reported by Varsha Anjali. The Herald was the first outlet referenced by Kaur herself when announcing the move publicly. Direct Herald page access was unavailable during Webfit News’ research, so details from the Herald report have been cross-checked against Kaur’s LinkedIn post and subsequent reports quoting the Herald. (LinkedIn)
Simran Kaur: LinkedIn announcement confirming her New York move, O-1 visa and that the NZ team will remain in place. (LinkedIn)
University of Auckland: Background on Kaur’s optometry education, company growth and early international reach. (University of Auckland)
Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards: 2024 award profile and business milestones. (Kiwibank NZer of the Year Awards)
Cartier Women’s Initiative: Kaur’s 2024 Oceania award, company mission and audience figures. (Cartier Women’s Initiative)
US Citizenship and Immigration Services: Official O-1 visa criteria. (USCIS)
Apple Podcasts: Current Friends That Invest podcast description and reported download milestone. (Apple Podcasts)
