Arta Finance CEO Caesar Sengupta is aiming to create a digital family office that gives the somewhat rich access to the alternative investments and advice available to the very rich.
illustration by stephanie cui for forbes; photo by arta finance
Amid inflation concerns and geopolitical conflicts, volatility has become the status quo, forcing fintechs to grapple with tumultuous market conditions. But six investing companies have risen to the challenge and earned a place on the Forbes Fintech 50 2024 list—more than twice as many as last year. These established and emerging players have found profitable niches catering to savvy investors, who are taking advantage of higher bond yields and diversifying with alternative assets.
One of the repeat honorees is iCapital, which has made it to the list seven times. The 11-year-old firm enables big banks and wealth managers to offer their clients access to investments like venture capital and private debt. In 2023, it launched a marketplace that makes it easier for giants like Blackstone
BX
MORN
Another standout is the retirement and savings platform Vestwell, which joined the unicorn club at the end of last year and is now helping power Chase’s small business 401(k) savings platform. It also expanded its roster of state-sponsored savings programs with Delaware and Maine. Last year’s newcomer, New York fintech Atomic Invest, grew its formidable client roster of banks, fintechs and credit unions, while adding alternative investing functionalities.
Two first-time personal finance honorees joined the list this year. Arta Finance, another newcomer, aims to revolutionize wealth management for the newly rich, offering them easy access to alternative investments and financial strategies usually reserved for the ultra-wealthy. In October, it opened to accredited investors in the U.S. and plans to soon launch in Singapore. Newcomer Capitalize aims to serve the everyday investor, with a free service that rolls 401(k)s from workers’ former employers to IRAs at such partners as Betterment, Robinhood, Schwab, and SoFi.
Finally, Wealthfront, the Palo Alto, California-based robo-advisor which was on our very first Fintech 50 list for 2015, is making a triumphal return. In 2023, its revenue grew 150% to $200 million and assets under management grew 76% to $55 billion thanks to new products like an automated bond portfolio that is yielding around 5.5%.
Read more about these investing innovators:
Arta Finance
Aims to be a digital “family office” that provides high earners and the somewhat wealthy access to the sort of alternative investments (including private equity and private credit) and financial strategies traditionally available only to the very wealthy. Created in 2021 by former Google
GOOG
Headquarters: Mountain View, California.
Funding: $92 million from Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Ribbit Capital, Coatue Management and others.
Bona fides: Attracted $100 million in assets and more than 1,200 customers before opening to the public last October.
Cofounders: CEO Caesar Sengupta, 48; Chief Investment Officer Chirag Yagnik, 39; COO David Shapiro, 55; Charles Dong, 32; Edward Chiang, 38—all former Google executives.
Atomic Invest
Banks, fintechs, credit unions and other consumer-facing finance platforms use its white-label brokerage offering to give their customers access to money market funds, wealth management and treasury management services. It recently added alternative investing functionalities. Atomic also offers investment advice itself through its SEC-registered adviser.
Headquarters: New York, New York.
Funding: $25 million from QED
QED
Bona fides: 50 corporate customers.
Cofounders: CEO David Dindi, 30; CTO Marco Alban, 30; and Head of Engineering Emma Marriott, 29. The trio met as undergraduates at Stanford.
Capitalize
Capitalize helps users find old 401(k) accounts and consolidate them into a new IRA at one of its institutional partners, which include Betterment, Schwab, SoFi and Robinhood. In addition to its consumer offering, Capitalize has an enterprise business, where its rollover technology is embedded in the applications of the likes of Robinhood and SoFi, with additional partners to be announced later this year.
Headquarters: New York, New York.
Funding: $20 million from Canapi, Walkabout, Bling and others.
Latest valuation: Not disclosed.
Date of last valuation: February 2021 (most recent funding).
Bona fides: Annualized rollover volume on the platform grew from $250 million at the end of 2022 to $750 million.
Cofounders: CEO Gaurav Sharma, 39; CTO Christopher Phillips, 48.
iCapital
Provides 96,000 financial advisors and their wealthy clients with access to alternatives like hedge funds, private equity, private credit and real estate funds, with minimums as low as $25,000. Launched the iCapital Marketplace in June 2023 making it easier for firms like Blackstone and Carlyle to offer their funds to advisors, and announced a partnership with Morningstar in January giving the 170,000 users on its Advisor Workstation access to iCapital’s marketplace and other features. Also has 219 white-label partners using iCapital’s technology to build customizable alternatives platforms for clients.
Headquarters: New York, New York.
Funding: $765 million from BlackRock
BLK
Latest valuation: $6 billion.
Date of last valuation: June 2023.
Bona fides: Assets invested through the platform grew 18% in 2023 to $176 billion in more than 1,400 funds.
Cofounders: CEO Lawrence Calcano, 61, former head of technology investment banking at Goldman Sachs; managing partners Dan Vene, 48, and Nick Veronis, 59.
Vestwell
Vestwell’s recordkeeping technology enables 300,000 small businesses to offer 401(k) savings plans, 529 college savings plans or one of more than 30 state-facilitated IRAs, helping 1.1 million savers. In May 2023, it announced a partnership with JPMorgan to help power Chase’s small business 401(k) savings platform. It also bought student loan benefits provider Gradifi Solutions from Morgan Stanley
MS
Headquarters: New York, New York.
Funding: $275 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Fin Capital, Goldman Sachs and others.
Latest valuation: $1 billion, according to PitchBook.
Date of last valuation: December 2023.
Bona fides: Safeguards $30 billion in assets and added Delaware and Maine to its roster of state-sponsored programs in 2023.
Founder and CEO: Aaron Schumm, 45, previously founded wealth management fintech FolioDynamix and sold it to Envestnet.
Wealthfront
Wealthfront is a roboadvisor managing $55 billion in assets for 735,000 customers as of the end of 2023. It launched an automated bond portfolio in June 2023, now yielding around 5.5%, and offers high-yield cash accounts with a 5.0% APY in addition to its customizable stock portfolios. Users pay a 0.25% management fee on their portfolios, and Wealthfront also offers loans and generates revenue on the interest it earns from customer deposits.
Wealthfront is a roboadvisor managing $55 billion in assets for 735,000 customers as of the end of 2023. It launched an automated bond portfolio in June 2023, now yielding around 5.5%, and offers high-yield cash accounts with a 5.0% APYin addition to its customizable stock portfolios. Users pay a 0.25% management fee on their portfolios, and Wealthfront also offers loans and generates revenue on the interest it earns from customer deposits.
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California.
Funding: $230 million from Tiger Global Management, Index Ventures, Spark Capital and others.
Latest valuation: $1.4 billion.
Date of last valuation: September 2022.
Bona fides: Revenue grew 150% in 2023 to $200 million; assets under management grew 76%.
Cofounders: Chairman Andy Rachleff, 65, who previously cofounded venture capital firm Benchmark; chief strategy officer Dan Carroll, 42.
CEO: David Fortunato, 38, who spent 10 years as Wealthfront’s CTO and took over from Rachleff in 2021.
