Led by CEO and Co-Founder Michael Carvin, the six-year-old Y Combinator company provides personal finance information and tools to more than 45m people each month. SmartAsset, a marketplace that connects consumers to financial advisors, announced today that it has raised 110 million in a Series D round of funding. Powered by proprietary Automated Financial Modeling software, SmartAsset’s tools, calculators, data-driven studies and educational content provide personal finance resources, directly to consumers. The round was led by existing investor TTV Capital with participation from Javelin Venture Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Citi Ventures, New York Life Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners. Its proprietary technology, research and patent-pending Automated Financial Modeling software forecast the impact of different decisions on people’s personal finances, enabling users to make smart financial decisions. SmartAsset, a financial advice site, has secured 12 million in Series B funding. ![]() The post SmartAsset Raises 110M in Series D Funding Valued at Over 1 Billion appeared first on FinSMEs. Brooke's Note: Whether you are hiring a plumber, a veterinarian or a financial advisor, your preferred introduction is a referral from somebody you know and trust.IA Capital Group led the round with participation from TTV Capital, Contour Ventures, Javelin Venture Partners, New York Life, Transamerica Ventures and Fitz Gate Ventures. First of all, you have reason to believe your referring friend has your best interests at heart. Whether the professional who takes on your business likes you or not, they are likely to serve you well. #New yorkbased smartasset ttv 1b professional# ![]() After all, they don't want to let down the common friend. I think for that reason companies that have tried to make a business off the very personal interaction of a referral have really found it difficult. SmartAsset made it this far by playing to its non-human strengths-a massive numbers game. More than 65 million investors were going to its site each month with little follow up. But now it is injecting a human aspect - people on the phone - to impart urgency, do vetting and ensure conversations actually happen. In the firm's pilot, the results were an order of magnitude better than digitally belching out prospective leads. Now comes stage II clinical trials on a much larger number of investors and advisors. It'll be a huge ninth year at the company if it can execute on that bet. With the venture capital clock ticking, SmartAsset is making its biggest gamble yet, turning leads into RIA AUM by using call center people to fix a low-close digital process. Mark LoCastro anticipates a near doubling of SmartAsset's annual referrals to RIAs. The New York-based startup - now eight years past its founding - is betting that injecting trained staff into the mix will take the number of SmartAsset leads advisors convert from one in 20 to one in five, according to Michael Carvin, the firm’s co-founder and CEO. The company, however, is basing its projections on a pilot program that included about 100 advisors at RIAs and broker-dealers - and one that makes clear what the payoff will look like. SmartAsset currently refers roughly $5 billion a year to advisors, but by adding human brokering to the process, it expects that amount to double. "We expect to help financial advisors add an aggregate $10 billion in assets under management in 2020," says Mark LoCastro, SmartAsset's director of public relations, via email. Over the last two years, SmartAsset leads have delivered $9.7 billion in fresh assets under management (AUM) for advisors, according to the firm. This figure is based on in-house data, confirmed by advisors at RIAs and broker-dealers. See: What exactly is it about SmartAsset's Zillow-for-RIAs play that converted Focus Financial? Reaping the rewards?īut the firm's new return on investment will actually be even higher because SmartAsset plans to charge three times more.įor instance, in order to get connected with a prospective client with more than $1 million in investible assets, advisors have to shell out $645 per lead. That said, SmartAsset declined to say whether its new dial-a-lead 'live connections' service has continued to achieve the same success rate since its Apr. Since its 2012 founding, SmartAsset has brought in $51.4 million in venture capital backing over six rounds. Focus led the last funding round, two years after SmartAsset pivoted to serving RIAs. ![]() SmartAsset declined to reveal whether Focus, a client as well as an investor, will use its new phone connection service. SmartAsset uses an approach similar to Personal Capital for procuring leads. It churns the Internet with free tools for investors. Personal Capital closes the leads itself.
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