Vanguard, SEI Back $25M Funding Round in Wealth AI Startup Avantos

Here’s to a cool $25 mil. 

Avantos, an AI-powered operating system for advisors, raised $25 million in Series A funding this week, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with additional backing from powerhouse wealth management firms like Vanguard, Guardian Life and SEI. The raise comes just weeks after Altruist launched an AI-powered tax planning tool that sent shares of wealth management firms including Charles Schwab and Morgan Stanley tumbling. The company plans to use the capital to expand research and development, and build out banking and insurance products.

The funding is the latest round for AI-driven wealthtech firms that are aiming to upend the advisor tech stack. “It’s all extremely fragmented,” said Avantos co-founder Bassam Chaptini. “It’s a headache for people to keep on marrying that data.” Avantos, which focuses heavily on client onboarding, is part of a growing group of AI operating systems aiming to consolidate those functions under one umbrella. 

All in One Place

Advisors often operate across multiple systems: a CRM to track relationships and goals, a separate portfolio management platform for investments and a range of point solutions for tasks like note-taking, email drafting and document analysis. Even with automation, toggling among systems can drain time and create data silos. And it’s not just advisors who need access to client information; administrative staff, tax specialists and compliance officers rely on it as well.

A key feature of these new platforms is the AI agent, software that goes beyond responding to prompts and instead proactively surfaces tasks. Rather than waiting for instructions, the agent can flag lapses in communication or suggest planning opportunities, said Avantos co-founder Rabih Ramadi. “The AI agent can be like, ‘Hey, you haven’t talked to this client in eight months, we should trigger this specific action. And by the way, based on public data sources and email interactions, that client just had a child. You should suggest they open a 529 plan,’” he said.

The More, The Merrier. The broader pitch is economic. Advisors often turn away smaller accounts because servicing them isn’t profitable. Avantos’ founders argue that by automating routine work and centralizing data, AI operating systems can reduce servicing costs and allow firms to lower minimum asset thresholds.

“That’s exactly what we’re doing with one of our bigger clients, lowering the bar of what is the minimum asset,” Ramadi said.