Nestimate, a Lincoln-based startup in the retirement planning industry, recently announced the completion of a $3 million seed round in September.
S3 Ventures, based in Texas, led the round with additional participation from PruVen Capital in California, TIAA Ventures in New York and Invest Nebraska, based in Lincoln. With investors from outside of Nebraska leading the round, Nestime’s recent raise indicates significant market validation.
Launched in 2022, Nestimate Founder and CEO Kelby Meyers said the company fits at the “niche” intersection between fintech and insurtech. The company’s software analytics platform is designed to help financial advisers, asset managers, insurers and 401(k) plan fiduciaries navigate and implement retirement income solutions.
Meyers said the way businesses revised their operations during COVID revealed an untapped opportunity for his startup. In addition, he said, the passage of the SECURE Act, which made significant changes to retirement savings rules, altered the retirement income landscape.
“There’s tons of different services and products … but the landscape hasn’t really caught up with how to A) functionally administer that and B) how to evaluate products,” Meyers said. “No one had really thought through that process yet.”
Meyers said he’s had significant support on the way to this milestone. Participating in the 2022 OnRamp Insurance Accelerator through gener8tor provided opportunities to participate in industry-specific conferences, which opened doors, Meyers said.
As a Nebraska resident and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, Meyers said he appreciated the support he received from the Nebraska startup ecosystem, guidance from successful founders and resources including the Nebraska Innovation Fund Prototype Grant and Invest Nebraska.
“There’s just so much opportunity to plug in and get support — when and if needed,” Meyers said.
Invest Nebraska Investment Manager Shelby Strattan said Invest Nebraska was interested in Nestimate due to Meyers’ career experience and the “promising market opportunity” for innovation in annuities products. She said the nonprofit venture development organization was excited about the other investors Meyers closed on.
Attracting large venture funds from out of state, Strattan said, indicated market validation and product-market fit in Nestimate’s solution.
“Being a fintech and insurtech product, he’s already plugged in with large financial institutions as clients that as a result can be investors (and) are well-connected with coastal VCs,” Strattan said.
“It’s a unique journey, but at the end of the day, networking is everything, and the larger your customers are the easier it is to scale.”
While every entrepreneur’s journey will differ — especially based on industries and connections formed with local investors — Strattan said it is common for a Nebraska startup to eventually look for investors out of the state when seeking to raise multimillion-dollar rounds. This is a means to tap into additional funding sources and further prove scalability.
S3 Ventures General Partner Charlie Plauche said in an email to SPN that Nestimate was the first Nebraska-based company the firm has invested in. While S3 Ventures did not see Nebraska as a “target market,” Plauche said the firm has made investments in markets given less attention by VCs or have smaller tech industries than other regions.
“I learned about Nestimate through another investor from Pruven Capital that was looking to invest in this round as well, and they did,” Plauche said. “I got to know the founder and CEO, Kelby, and was really impressed with him.”
“In the world of working remotely,” he added, “S3 believes you can build large companies from many different markets, and we are open to meeting with founders from all over the U.S.”
With the raised funds, Meyers said Nestimate has increased its team to four full-time employees and three part-time employees. Beyond growing the team, he said the investment will help assist with marketing efforts and expand his company’s product line and services.
