Wealthtech Wave to Top $9.4B

The business of wealthtech is booming. From robo-advisors and market analytics apps to tools used to speed up grunt work like summarizing financial documents, the industry is expected to reach a global market size of $9.43 billion by 2028 — nearly double from where it stood last year — according to a Research and Markets report.

Funding is pouring into the sector both in the US and abroad. One of the latest rounds came from wealth.com, which raised $30 million led by Google Ventures. The digital estate-planning service works with some 550 advisory firms, and said it will double its current headcount, which now stands at roughly 50 employees. “Advisory firms are all asking, ‘What else can we do?’” CEO Rafael Loureiro told The Daily Upside. “They’re all trying to create the family office experience.”

Wealthtech Around the World

The enthusiasm for wealthtech extends beyond those wanting to beef up their estate planning game. Nearly 9 in 10 investment firms are developing AI and cloud computing capabilities, according to a report from ThoughtLab, and it’s paying off. Forty-five percent of firms report lower costs, 41% higher shareholder value, and 40% increased revenue thanks to their advances in wealthtech and digital innovation, the report said. 

AI is top of mind. Last year, wealth.com launched Ester, an AI legal assistant that automates tedious and laborious tasks traditionally handled by financial analysts and in-house paralegals. “With AI you can read a document that used to take 30 hours being done by a paralegal in minutes,” Loureiro said. 

Where’s My Wealthtech? Money is pouring into wealthtech businesses across the globe:

• In July, the California-based Powder — a company that uses AI technology to quickly read, interpret, and organize brokerage documents — closed a $5 million round of seed funding, backed by 40 Silicon Valley investors. Also that month, New York’s Earned Wealth, a startup that provides financial and career advice for doctors, raised $200 million in funding, led by Summit Partners and Silversmith Capital Partners.

• Last week, India’s Centricity, a digital private wealth management platform, raised $20 million in seed funding, led by private equity firm Lightspeed. The investments brought Centricity’s valuation to $125 million, a sixfold increase from its $20 million pre-seed valuation in September 2022.

Though more in the retail investment sphere, Istanbul’s Midas raised an impressive $45 million in April, Turkey’s largest-ever Series A funding round for a fintech company. Midas, which hit profitability last year, said the new capital will help double the company’s headcount to more than 400 and roll out a host of new product lines including crypto trading, mutual funds, and savings accounts.