The statements have since been removed from Spaceship's websites.

"New entrants to the superannuation sector have the potential to offer benefits to consumers, but it is critical that they provide accurate and clear information, especially if they are targeting a younger demographic," Mr Kell said.

Spaceship was not available for comment.

The Australian Financial Review has previously reported concerns in the financial industry about Spaceship's aggressive marketing to millennial savers.

Spaceship is backed by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Louie Douvis

The start-up super fund has also been called out for its relatively high fees and low returns relative to the risks it takes.

Last November the fund reduced its fees, increased its exposure to global technology stocks and brought in a new product in response to member feedback.

Tidswell Financial Services, the trustee company of Spaceship, was also fined.


The 35-year old South Australian-based firm was acquired by Sargon Capital, a private company controlled by Melbourne businessman Phil Kingston and Aron D'Souza.

The Financial Review revealed Sargon secretly received millions of dollars of funding from Peter Thiel, powerful Silicon Valley billionaire and adviser to Donald Trump. That allowed it to acquire the Adelaide based planner that was in possession of a licence required to run a superannuation fund in 2016.

Mr D'Souza was later revealed to be "Mr A" the mysterious adviser to Thiel who conceived and orchestrated his secret legal battle against gossip site Gawker by financing wrestler Hulk Hogan's case against the website.

Meanwhile Spaceship is still touting the virtues of technology investments and told its investors last month, as Facebook stocks fell in the wake of the data privacy scandal, that the social media platform was cheap. That was because its premium to the market, not counting its cash balance, fell from 16 per cent to 6 per cent.

"We're prepared to have a Tesla rather than a Commodore in our garage at the moment," Spaceship told its investors.

Among Spaceship's earliest and most vocal backers is Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of Australia's most successful start-up, Atlassian, which is now listed in the United States.

Cannon-Brookes featured heavily in Spaceship's initial social media marketing push, but subsequently had his associations removed, The Australian reported.

The Financial Review does not suggest that Cannon-Brookes or Thiel were involved in the false and misleading conduct.

In June 2017, Spaceship was reported by the Financial Review to have raised $19.5 million in funding from venture capital firms including Future Fund-backed New Enterprise Associates, the regional office Sequoia, Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures and Hong Kong billionaire Li-Ka Shing's Horizon Ventures. That implied a maximum valuation of $70 million.