This week, I pause to reflect on the sales of (1) AdvisorEngine to Franklin Templeton and (2) the technology of Motif Investing to Schwab. Is all enterprise wealth tech destined to be acquired by financial incumbents? Has the roboadvisor innovation vector run dry? Not at all, I think. If anything, we are just getting started. Decentralized finance innovators like Zapper, Balancer, TokenSets, and PieDAO are re-imagining what wealth management looks like on Ethereum infrastructure. Their speed of iteration and deployment is both faster and cheaper, and I am more excited for the future of digital investing than ever before.
This week, we put on the Goldman hat and go shopping for companies. We buy a little bit of Folio and sell some Motif. We look at Personal Capital and the $1 billion it wants for its $12 billion of assets. We examine the private markets with Addepar / iCapital and SharesPost / Forge, and then move over to the banking sector. Should we buy Wells Fargo, as rumored, or some digital wallet apps? Read on for how to acquire a best-in-class Fintech.
Personal Capital, a hybrid wealth management platform, raised another $40 million and it now brings their total funding to $200 million; this Series E round was led by IGM Financial, part of the Power Financial Corporation group of companies, with participation from other existing investors; they plan to use the new capital to expand product offerings, increase their marketing spend and build up their advisory service; they also plan to move into San Francisco and Denver, building on the markets they currently are in which include Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Greater Los Angeles and Chicago. Source
PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate backed loans, has now integrated with Personal Capital which is powered by the Envestnet | Yodlee data aggregation platform; customers will now be able to view their PeerStreet positions within their investment portfolio on Personal Capital; this is the third such integration as PeerStreet recently announced integrations with Wealthfront and Betterment; "Many PeerStreet customers have asked for this integration with Personal Capital. We're always working to improve the experience for our customers and provide greater control and transparency," said Brett Crosby, co-founder and COO of PeerStreet." Source
Personal Capital is a personal financial management tool that launched ten years ago; the company saw 23% annualized growth in...
Personal Capital is looking to compete with banks offering high yield accounts; the new offering called Personal Capital Cash offers...
In an interview with RIABiz Personal Capital Founder Bill Harris talks about the outlook for his firm, the growth they have seen and some of the challenges with growing their brand; they do not consider themselves a robo advisor, they are more complicated and detailed with call centers and multiple strategies; they currently have $4.9 billion in assets under management which is more than five times the $1 billion in assets under management they had in January 2015; Jay Shah, CEO of Personal Capital, tells RIABiz, "Our rapid growth reaffirms that we are solving a major pain point for consumers by giving them conflict-free advice and full transparency and insight into their financial lives."; they are not as cheap as Betterment or Vanguard yet they are gaining market share and their average account is $380,000; the company has received over $200 million in venture funding with the most recent round of $40 million closing yesterday; the interview also goes through the pains of building their brand and the different strategies they offer to clients. Source
After an initial $50 million investment in Personal Capital, IGM Financial has invested an additional $25 million in the company; the $25 million was contingent on an assets under management goal which they have now surpassed; the company has added $1.5 billion under management in the last year bringing their total to $3.4 billion; this amounts to 80% growth; valuation of the company is approximately $500 million. Source
Open Banking is set to launch in Europe next month. As banks and fintech firms rush to ensure compliance we...
Banks have historically made money on overdraft fees, out-of-network ATM fees, fees for not maintaining a certain minimum balance and more; this fee structure has helped give banks a bad name; big tech companies and fintech startups have garnered a better reputation for upfront fees for a simple service and transparency around other fees; “It’s important to let consumers understand what you’re offering, what the fee structure is — and be abundantly clear about it — and then you can build trust,” said Jay Shah, CEO of Personal Capital to TearSheet; studies show that customers are not turned off by fees, but are annoyed when they hear of free checking then see ACH transaction fees or overdraft fees; banks need to begin to understand what their customers want and how much they are willing to pay for it in a clear way. Source.




